Public Safety

Whether it’s a natural calamity like a wildfire, earthquake or flood, or other life-threatening situations, the ability to communicate is paramount to enabling the proper coordinated response to ensure the public’s safety. When first responders and the public can effectively communicate and share information, potentially dangerous situations can be resolved with the least negative impact possible.

Accuracy

The FCC requires location accuracy to within 100 meters for 67% of calls and 300 meters for 95% of calls.

GPS

Better data signal can help with communication and other tools that help save lives

Texting

In Emergency situations strong cell capacity is needed to communicate to loved ones or emergency services

9-1-1

An estimated 240 million calls are made to 9-1-1 in the US each year. In many areas 80% or more are from from wireless devices.

Wireless Safety Facts

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Our priority is to meet FCC standards.

We want our communities to know that our wireless sites are in compliance; therefore we conduct annual RF testing at all of our school sites. Fairfax County Public Schools also undertook an independent study of the RF emissions from their sites and found that power density levels for exterior spaces near the towers were 95% lower than the FCC standard. 

American Cancer Society

Some people have expressed concern that living, working, or going to school near a cell phone tower might increase the risk of cancer or other health problems. At this time, there is very little evidence to support this idea. Click here to read more about wireless safety from the American Cancer Society.

FCC

In the U. S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tightly regulates the wireless industry. The FCC is responsible for setting and enforcing conservative, scientifically based radio frequency (RF) emission standards. The FCC has been conducting research on RF safety for more than 20 years. Milestone regularly measures its facilities and ensures that they are well below the FCC safety limits. Click this to learn more about RF safety.

International Agency for Research on Cancer

There have been five case-control studies of environmental exposure to RF radiation and risk of cancer of brain. Cohort studies have not been reported. In all of the case-control studies, exposure estimation was based on residential proximity to RF-transmitter antennae… Together, these studies provide no indication that environmental exposure to RF radiation increases the risk of brain tumours. Click this to read the entire monograph from the IARC

World Health Organization

Over the past 15 years, studies examining a potential relationship between RF transmitters and cancer have been published. These studies have not provided evidence that RF exposure from the transmitters increases the risk of cancer. Likewise, long-term animal studies have not established an increased risk of cancer from exposure to RF fields, even at levels that are much higher than produced by base stations and wireless networks. Click this to read more about wireless safety from the World Health Organization.

Understanding Radio Frequency 

Below is a chart of the electromagnetic spectrum. Your phones and cell towers operate in the highlighted bands. Wireless towers are a low-power technology that emit non-ionizing radio frequency (RF) energy. Non-ionizing RF energy does not have the ability to break bonds or damage DNA, unlike ionizing energy sources, such as x-rays, gamma rays, and ultraviolet rays. Tower antennas are mounted 50 to 200’ in the air, with signals transmitting outward (not downward) and intermittently (not constantly). As a result, RF exposure from towers at ground level is extremely low – typically, thousands of times less than the regulatory limits set by the FCC.