NORWICH – Recently, the City of Norwich Fire Department was awarded a $85,159 federal grant that will go toward upgrading its radio equipment so the agency will be compatible with Chenango County’s new 911 communications system.
The new $6 million Emergency Management Communications system replaces a system of three towers constructed in the 1970s with a total of nine towers, including the main tower at the Public Safety Facility on Upper Ravine Road in the Town of Norwich. Public safety officials estimate that after many years of only covering about 25 percent of the county, nearly all of the towns will now be covered at a 95 percent rate.
U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri announced April 16 the Norwich Fire Department would receive the funds for operations and safety enhancements under the 2009 federal Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) program.  
Norwich Fire Chief Tracy Chawgo said the department had to put up between 10 and 20 percent of the awarded amount to be eligible for the grant, and that all the funds would go to equipping able bodied members of the volunteer and paid fire service with up-to-date radio equipment. Also, equipment used at the fire house and on the departments’ vehicles would be upgraded.
“This money is going towards all of our communication equipment needs,” said Chawgo. “As the county upgrades their system, we needed to as well. With this grant we can do so, and at no cost to the local taxpayer.”
“I am pleased that local fire departments are getting the resources they need to fight fires and protect the members of their communities,” said Arcuri, who has organized several fire grant writing workshops with the Department of Homeland Security. Local fire service officials attended the training in preparation for applying for this recently awarded grant.
“We’ve been putting a little bit of money away here and there in anticipation of the county’s change over, but we’re a bigger department than others in the area and we were looking at spending more to upgrade,” said Chawgo.
Chawgo said a total of about 65 pager-carrying members would receive the new equipment.
The tower project, in the works for about a decade, was expected to go online this month, but has been pushed back to sometime in the fall amid delays in the final equipment installation and the filing of financial documentation.
Chawgo said the department would begin bidding out the project next week and expected that the agency would be fully upgraded by this summer.
“When the county switches over, we’ll be ready the day they kick it off,” he said.
Fire Departments across Chenango County are also currently working to acquire grants and raise other funds to pay for upgrades in their radio equipment. To give local departments more time to make the adjustment, the county will continue using both the low and high frequency radios for a year or two.