County waiting for fire departments to comply with new radio requirements
NORWICH – Only six of 21 municipal fire departments in Chenango County have purchased radios and radio frequencies that will be compatible with the county’s new emergency management communications system.
Local departments have until 2010 to provide the radios to firefighters, Emergency Management Services Director Matt Beckwith said.
Local police forces are already in compliance.
At a meeting of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors, Beckwith said grant funds were available for the equipment purchases and most of the remaining towns had applied for them. A couple of towns neglected to take the county up on its offer to assist with applications, he said, but were able to file for grants or use existing funding sources to purchase them.
Emergency responders are being asked to move from VHF low band to UHF ultra high frequency.
Chenango County itself has relied on more than $100,000 in grants to purchase radios and just this month applied for an applicable $53,250 terrorism prevention grant from the Office of Homeland Security.
Portable UHF frequency radios cost about $350 and mobile radios for vehicles about $650. Beckwith could not say how much the new radios would cost the towns on average because the numbers needed were “too extreme.”
“There are four radios in Brisben, but obviously many more for Norwich,” he said.
Town of Plymouth Supervisor Jerry Kreiner commented, “It’s a significant amount of money.”
If a department falls short of the January 2010 requirement, Town of Smyrna Supervisor James Bays suggested that the Safety and Rules Committee would need to know. “We’ll do whatever we can to take care of the problem,” he said on behalf of the committee.
Beckwith said he realized that not all fire departments would be in compliance, and communications would be transmitted using both old and new frequencies for perhaps two years.
‘We are really pushing the departments to change out their radios because the age of their radios might make them not operational. Some are going to take more time than others,” he said.
All in, the total cost for Chenango County’s eight new 911 emergency management communications towers and transmission equipment will be just under the projected $7 million budget.
Planned for more than a decade, the project has been under construction by the New York State Dormitory Authority since 2007 when the Chenango County Public Safety Facility was completed. Earlier projections were to have the system up and running this fall.
Radios and radio frequencies were due to be installed, weather permitting, by the end of the year. But some unresolved antenna and filter design questions have now pushed the date back to March. Beckwith said his department participates in a conference call every week with a team of seven Motorola engineers and United Radio personnel who are working on Chenango County’s project.
Local departments have until 2010 to provide the radios to firefighters, Emergency Management Services Director Matt Beckwith said.
Local police forces are already in compliance.
At a meeting of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors, Beckwith said grant funds were available for the equipment purchases and most of the remaining towns had applied for them. A couple of towns neglected to take the county up on its offer to assist with applications, he said, but were able to file for grants or use existing funding sources to purchase them.
Emergency responders are being asked to move from VHF low band to UHF ultra high frequency.
Chenango County itself has relied on more than $100,000 in grants to purchase radios and just this month applied for an applicable $53,250 terrorism prevention grant from the Office of Homeland Security.
Portable UHF frequency radios cost about $350 and mobile radios for vehicles about $650. Beckwith could not say how much the new radios would cost the towns on average because the numbers needed were “too extreme.”
“There are four radios in Brisben, but obviously many more for Norwich,” he said.
Town of Plymouth Supervisor Jerry Kreiner commented, “It’s a significant amount of money.”
If a department falls short of the January 2010 requirement, Town of Smyrna Supervisor James Bays suggested that the Safety and Rules Committee would need to know. “We’ll do whatever we can to take care of the problem,” he said on behalf of the committee.
Beckwith said he realized that not all fire departments would be in compliance, and communications would be transmitted using both old and new frequencies for perhaps two years.
‘We are really pushing the departments to change out their radios because the age of their radios might make them not operational. Some are going to take more time than others,” he said.
All in, the total cost for Chenango County’s eight new 911 emergency management communications towers and transmission equipment will be just under the projected $7 million budget.
Planned for more than a decade, the project has been under construction by the New York State Dormitory Authority since 2007 when the Chenango County Public Safety Facility was completed. Earlier projections were to have the system up and running this fall.
Radios and radio frequencies were due to be installed, weather permitting, by the end of the year. But some unresolved antenna and filter design questions have now pushed the date back to March. Beckwith said his department participates in a conference call every week with a team of seven Motorola engineers and United Radio personnel who are working on Chenango County’s project.
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