U.S. Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Angus King of Maine praised the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources for unanimously passing their legislation this week to provide essential upgrades to National Park Service (NPS) 911 call centers. The senators introduced the Making National Parks Safer Act (S. 290) on January 29, 2025.
The bill was partially prompted by an active shooter situation in Yellowstone National Park in July 2024. The shoot-out between park rangers and an armed man who was threatening people resulted in the gunman - later identified as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner of Florida - being shot dead.
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The Making National Parks Safer Act would equip NPS 911 call centers with Next Generation 911 (NG911) technology, strengthening emergency response capabilities, supporting dispatch center operations, and enabling responders to receive text messages, images, and videos in addition to phone calls.
Barasso's office provided the following information:
The National Park Service operates 41 call centers nationwide. Call centers operate on outdated systems and have little interoperability and emergency redundancy capabilities with the other law enforcement agencies.
The committee-passed version of the Making National Parks Safer Act:
- Directs the National Park Service to assess the current implementation status of NG911 systems at existing emergency communications centers and estimate costs to install and maintain NG911 systems.
- Provides a report on the results of the assessment and identify certain jurisdictional, technological, and legal issues that may affect implementation of NG911 systems.
- Requires the National Park Service to develop a plan to install NG911 systems at existing centers, after consultation with relevant stakeholders and authorities.
