Last week, CoE staff members Adrien Hoff and Brad Schmidt attended the 5x5 FirstNet conference in Seattle. 

Throughout the week, staff had the opportunity to learn about cutting-edge public safety technologies and network with experts from around the world. We presented on COTAK and demonstrated it to attendees, including the virtual reality TAK client, VR TAK. 

A new tool is now available in COTAK allowing multiple agencies to share their user’s locations and interoperate! This tool, called interagency channels, allows you as an agency administrator to invite other agencies to join your users on a common channel for interoperability. This option is in addition to traditional mutual aid channels that are permanently created by the COTAK program team for use by agencies within a county or region.

Interagency channels in COTAK works similarly to the patching of voice radio channels, but differs in that COTAK creates a new interagency channel for the patch using the membership of multiple ‘normal’ channels. To learn more about this exciting new feature watch our training video here. If you would like assistance setting up interagency channels contact our support team at cotak.gov/support.

On January 2, 2025, the Mesa County Search & Rescue (MCSAR) team received a call to rescue a trapped dog near Collbran, CO. This rescue was unique and challenging because the dog, named Tiny, was stuck on a mountainside with rugged and elevated terrain. Thanks to the Colorado Team Awareness Kit (COTAK), the MCSAR team was able to pinpoint Tiny's location, plan their rescue operations, and ensure the safe return of both Tiny and the responders. 

As daylight faded after a six-hour rescue mission, the responders utilized COTAK to identify a safe route back to the mountain base. They successfully reunited Tiny with her owners around 10 p.m., marking a successful collaboration with Mesa County Search and Rescue and COTAK.

This story illustrates that COTAK is truly a life-saving solution for both emergency responders and our furry friends. Continue reading below for the full press release from MCSAR. 

___________

Around 9 a.m. on January 2, 2025, Mesa County Search and Rescue (MCSAR) received a call to rescue a trapped tracking dog near Collbran, CO. The owners of the dog, named Tiny, advised MCSAR that Tiny had been tracking a mountain lion when she became stranded in the middle of a cliff face near the mountain’s summit 24 hours prior. Thanks to a GPS tracker on Tiny’s collar, the owners knew her approximate location, though realized it wasn’t somewhere they could safely reach her.

With Tiny’s approximate location known, the MCSAR team planned their rescue operations using the Colorado Team Awareness Kit (COTAK) to safely rescue her from the mountainside. However, the team quickly encountered challenging terrain, which slowed progress significantly. After some consideration, the MCSAR operations team determined that splitting the group into two teams would be more effective in finding a route through the many cliff bands that had halted progress toward Tiny’s location. A hasty team of three members, deemed Team 1, was sent to the east to try to find a break in the cliffs, while the larger group, deemed Team 2, attempted to find a gap to the west.

Over the next six hours, Team 1 carefully rappelled and climbed through the cliff bands, working toward the ridge top. They ascended several thousand feet from there before finally reaching the peak where Tiny had become trapped. After confirming Tiny’s location below, the team built a system to lower a rescuer down and retrieve her using a harness designed for dog rescue in technical terrain. At approximately 4 p.m., Tiny was raised back to the mountain's summit.

The celebration of Tiny's rescue from the cliff face was short-lived, however, as Team 1 had a new challenge: finding a safe route back to the mountain's base in diminishing light. Back at the base of the mountain, MCSAR operations team members were able to map out a different route in COTAK for Team 1 to follow. This new route took Team 1 across the other side of the mountain through snow-covered terrain, including multiple waterfalls that they rappelled off of with Tiny in tow. Due to Tiny’s diminished physical condition, Team 1 carried the dog for much of the trip. 

As Team 1 descended the mountain, MCSAR moved their staging location to the north side to gain better access to Team 1. Once relocated, Team 2 made their way up the mountain on horses provided and led by Tiny’s owner. They brought essential supplies - water and food - to replenish Team 1. Once the two groups united, the MCSAR members swapped places, giving Team 1 a much-needed break as they rode the horses the rest of the way down the mountain.

Tiny was reunited with her very thankful owners around 10 p.m., marking the end of a successful rescue mission. Every mission matters for Mesa County Search and Rescue, even if it’s Tiny.

Press release courtesy of Mesa County Search and Rescue

This past month, the Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting (CoE) achieved a significant milestone by launching the Colorado Team Awareness Kit (COTAK™) service. 

The COTAK team recently met with Aerial Fire Magazine to discuss how we are providing real time information to wildland firefighters and other first responders. 

CoE Deputy Director of Science and Research Dr. Bob Gann was recently featured on the “Smart Firefighting” podcast with a discussion on COTAK. Bob has been instrumental in building the cotak.gov website and user management system, and in this podcast he shares his insight on why COTAK was built and what our value proposition is to first responders in Colorado. If you have 20 minutes to spare the podcast episode is well worth a listen!

Apple Podcast Link 

Spotify Link 

The COTAK system is now capable of supporting mutual aid, meaning that multiple agencies can use COTAK to access a common channel in the app and view the locations of first responders from all agencies involved in an operation. COTAK currently has statewide mutual aid channels for law enforcement, wildland fire, and snowstorm operations. Mutual aid channels for smaller counties or regions of the state can be created as well.

The way mutual aid works in COTAK is through the creation of "parent" entities, which can have multiple agencies as their "children." One or more channels can be created in the parent, and all children agencies automatically are given access to these channels. 

For example a county can be a parent entity, and within that county the three fire departments, two police departments, and the sheriff's office can all be designated as children of the county. Then COTAK creates a county "owned" channel in TAK called "County MAC" and this channel automatically becomes available to any first responder in the six agencies within that county. This channel can be turned on or off by each first responder depending on their needs.

Contact the COTAK project team at support@cotak.gov if you would like to learn more or have mutual aid deployed in your area of Colorado. 

Announcing COTAK Channels

Channels selection for iTAK has been recently released as part of the 2.7 app update (July 2023). This major enhancement now allows all COTAK users using ATAK, iTAK, or WinTAK to choose which channels you would like to share your location and interact with. 

Turning a channel to the "on" position means you are sharing your location on that channel and can view and interact with all other COTAK users on that same channel. Turning a channel to the "off" position hides your location from users on that channel. There is no limit to the number of channels you may turn on at a time.

iTAK Upgrade Instructions

Since it is a significant upgrade to the iTAK app we're recommending users completely delete iTAK and re-download the app. This will require the user to log in again and select the "Tak Channels" tool along the bottom menu bar, then turn on the appropriate channels. If you've forgotten your password, go to cotak.gov, attempt to log in and use the forgot password link. Reload the app, set your callsign, dot color and use the QR code for your username/password. The iTAK Installation Guide for COTAK contains detailed instructions on how to accomplish this.