Year 2000 Bug A Risk For N.Y. Emergency Services

< auditors, who surveyed localities, found that while 100 percent of the counties who answered the survey were working on the problem, 26 percent of cities, 54 percent of towns, and 48 percent of villages had yet to make plans. Further, 61 percent of fire districts also had not yet dealt with the problem. >

see http://www.webcrawler.com/news/r/980910/09/tech-2000 for the rest of the story

-- John Callon (jcallon@gate.net), September 10, 1998

Answers

Good article. I'm sure that it is typical of most locales. It is just too late....

-- Joe (shar@pei.com), September 10, 1998.

My initial survey of my county's readiness has been interesting. The Emergency Management Service director said he would send me a handout from a recent meeting with State officials that would show me what they were doing to insure there won't BE any y2k problems. It was a cursory description of the problem, giving a brief outline of typical methods of fixing code and describing the limits of government immunity from lawsuits. EMS has no special plans, other than its standard disaster plans.

The chairperson of the board of commissioners said the county had no jurisdiction over any of the county's townships or cities; no one was assessing their progress. As for the county itself, the Data Processing department at the court house was fixing all the computers.

The new director at Data Processing, now named IS, says our Cobal has all been sent out of state, where it will be run through a repair tool. Then our guys will only have to test it. It should be returned from the out-of-state company "by the middle of next year." Meanwhile, they'll be fixing all the desktops. Embedded systems? Well, he "hopes" they'll be able to get to them "eventually".

The lady who answered the phone at the largest water authority in the county said, "We don't have any y2k problem here. It's all fixed." Did that mean all their embedded systems were tested, all their vendors had sent written assurance of their compliance, that backup power was ready and a healthy supply of fuel on hand or ordered? She said I'd have to talk with the general manager about that, but he wasn't in.

Still, I refuse to buy into "too late." Anything and everything we can do until D-Day will help. I'll be on the phone again tomorrow. My y2k pamphlet is ready to go to the printers; my local community web site is almost ready to post. And I'll be writing plenty of letters to my newspaper. Don't give up!

-- Faith Weaver, in PA (faith-weaver@usa.net), September 10, 1998.

One computer screwed up at the phone company last Saturday (fortunately not a weekday, and luckily on a holiday weekend) for unknown/unspecified reasons. (I don't "think" Y2K related, so the problem is symptomatic, not "case study")

It wiped out 911 service for 13 counties near Atlanta for 12 hours.

Unofficially, the local police office confirmed today that "many" alarms and "wires" go through NY, NC, Boston, etc. If so, they've got to be satellite-linked too. Gives you lots of confidence in our fearless leaders doesn't it?

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 10, 1998.