JCP&L is taking steps to improve its ability to communicate with first responders during a large-scale emergency.

The utility will install components of the New Jersey Preparedness Emergency Communication Network at its regional dispatching operations in Morristown and Red Bank, spokesman Ron Morano said Thursday.

The facilities manage the daily work on the company's electrical system and provide coordination when repair crews are dispatched during widespread power outages.

“Participating in this system will enhance our ability to share real-time critical information with our customers, communities and first responders during emergency situations,” JCP&L President Don Lynch said in a release.

“Joining this system is one of the many things we have done over the last two years to enhance our overall communications efforts with various governmental agencies during a large-scale emergency or weather event.”

The emergency communication system, which employs technology from Mutualink Inc., has the ability to securely connect public and private communications, including radio, voice, text, video, data files and telephone.

“JCP&L’s participation in this program is an important step designed to help protect the 4.5 million people in northern New Jersey and the region's critical infrastructure when a severe weather event or deliberate attack occurs,” said James J. Sheehan, program manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s Northern NJ- Newark/Jersey City Urban Area Security Initiative.