Narrative:

I was working controller in charge when the TRACON called with emergency information on an inbound CRJ9. I picked up the crash phone to alert the sux arff (aircraft rescue and fire fighting) of an alert 2 and the quality of the connection was poor. This phone rings to the arff; the air national guard (ANG) command post; and for some reason it rings downtown to the sioux city emergency command center. On the line; there was an awful repeating tone as I tried to pass the information on and I couldn't tell if the arff heard it was an alert 2. When I tried to confirm with them they seemed to disappear and the person answering at the command post said they thought the arff was gone and would relay the information. This crash phone has caused numerous problems and this isn't the 1st time we've had an issue or that I've reported this it during or after an emergency. Then later in the event; downtown called the tower to ask if there was a need for emergency medical; and this coordination is supposed to be handled by the arff; not the tower.often where there is issues with this phone system a blame game is played between the iowa ANG; and the commercial telephone company who handles the direct line resulting in 'repairs' being done that now obviously doesn't fix the problem. We need:1) a new telephone system between the tower and the ANG arff and ANG command post.2) downtown sioux city needs to be taken off this line -or- retraining of the ANG and sioux city response forces that they are to coordinate with each other not the tower!more often than not; they either over react or call in at times where the tower team has their hands full and for trying to get information that is irrelevant to them. In the past; downtown sioux city scrambled multiple departments from more than one city for a bonanza that had an electrical failure with an alert 1 called to the arff. This needs to stop. I would really like to see the city no longer on this line.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller reported poor quality connection on the crash phone; and no one taking responsibility to repairing it. Controller also cited a need for training on coordination procedures to the downtown Sioux City response; or eliminated from tower line.

Narrative: I was working Controller In Charge when the TRACON called with emergency information on an inbound CRJ9. I picked up the crash phone to alert the SUX ARFF (Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting) of an ALERT 2 and the quality of the connection was poor. This phone rings to the ARFF; the Air National Guard (ANG) Command Post; and for some reason it rings downtown to the Sioux City emergency command center. On the line; there was an awful repeating tone as I tried to pass the information on and I couldn't tell if the ARFF heard it was an alert 2. When I tried to confirm with them they seemed to disappear and the person answering at the command post said they thought the ARFF was gone and would relay the information. This crash phone has caused numerous problems and this isn't the 1st time we've had an issue or that I've reported this it during or after an emergency. Then later in the event; Downtown called the tower to ask if there was a need for emergency medical; and this coordination is supposed to be handled by the ARFF; not the tower.Often where there is issues with this phone system a blame game is played between the Iowa ANG; and the commercial telephone company who handles the direct line resulting in 'repairs' being done that now obviously doesn't fix the problem. We need:1) A new telephone system between the tower and the ANG ARFF and ANG command post.2) Downtown Sioux City needs to be taken off this line -or- Retraining of the ANG and Sioux City response forces that they are to COORDINATE WITH EACH OTHER NOT THE TOWER!More often than not; they either over react or call in at times where the tower team has their hands full and for trying to get information that is irrelevant to them. In the past; downtown Sioux City scrambled multiple departments from more than one city for a Bonanza that had an electrical failure with an Alert 1 called to the ARFF. This needs to stop. I would really like to see the city no longer on this line.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.