[Scan-DC] Fred Co Fire to get multipurpose radios

[Andrew Clegg]

$7000 per radio. That is absolutely obscene and indefensible. 


> On Oct 23, 2015, at 6:06 PM, Scott, KB3JQQ via Scan-DC <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
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> http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/budget_and_tax/new-radios-to-bridge-communication-gap-for-county-firefighters-neighboring/article_02a4cc65-7146-53db-9d3c-7489813d24e2.html
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> New radios to bridge communication gap for county firefighters, neighboring counterparts
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>   - By Jeremy Ariasjarias at newspost.com 
>   -  23 hrs ago
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>  When Frederick County firefighters upgraded to the 800 megahertz radio frequency several years ago, not all of the county’s closest neighbors followed suit.As a consequence, county firefighters found themselves unable to communicate directly with stations in Jefferson County, West Virginia, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and Washington County, all of which stayed in the lower, 400 MHz range, said Chip Jewell, chief of the Frederick County Division of Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services.“Essentially, the lower the frequency, the wider the penetration you get,” Jewell said of the outlying counties’ decision to stick with the lower frequency. “They get better penetration using the UHF 400 MHz frequencies due to the mountainous terrain that you see more of past Frederick.”To address that, the Frederick County Council voted on Tuesday to approve the last of the funding to equip firefighters stationed closest to those outlying counties with universally compatible radios.“With those new radios, all those companies that run into jurisdictions that don’t use the 800 MHz band ... they can now dial into whatever frequency they need to in order to talk to those other units,” said county Fire Chief Thomas W. Owens.While Tuesday’s council vote designated $189,075 in county funds for the new radios, the lion’s share of the expense, approximately $2 million, will be covered by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that the county applied for over a year ago, Owens said.“The action that the council took on Tuesday night was to approve the appropriation of the county matching funds that completes the order to purchase the radios,” Owens said. “So, in theory, we’re probably 30 days out from getting those radios. Hopefully, we can make it [happen] that fast.”The overall grant process, however, has been anything but fast, Owens said. The county first applied for the $2.2 million grant in 2014, but when FEMA returned with its offer, the lump total awarded was only $575,000 — enough to buy about 85 radios, Owens said.Only after the county applied for reconsideration of its application did FEMA award the full grant, enabling the county to afford 285 radios to dispense to individual firefighters assigned to stations bordering nonaligned jurisdictions, such as Brunswick, Myersville and Emmitsburg, Owens said.For those fire stations directly affected, including the Myersville Volunteer Fire Co. directly east of Washington County down I-70, the new radios couldn’t come quickly enough.“Thirty days out would be great, but it would have been great if we got them 30 days ago,” said Myersville Assistant Chief Tim Linton. “As soon as it happens, it will be a blessing.”Since Frederick County’s units started using the 800 MHz frequency, Linton and his counterparts have had to rely on imperfect means of relaying information to one another. When sharing radios between jurisdictions isn’t possible, for example, firefighters from different counties can use a patch through their respective dispatch centers to communicate, but the signals can be spotty at best, Linton said.“Basically, for us, when we run into Washington County, we lose all communication services. We’re considered in a dead zone,” Linton said. “And we do run mutual aid quite a bit on [I-70], so it becomes a struggle to find out what’s going on at the scene, especially if Washington County arrives first. It’s kind of like running blind.”Even if two stations exchange radios with each other — as is the case with Washington County’s Mount Aetna Volunteer Fire Station and its Frederick County counterparts — even simple geographical features such as mountains can disrupt communications.“On this side of the mountain, our Frederick County radios don’t work, and it’s the same way when we get over to their side of the mountain: Our Washington County radios stop working,” said Mount Aetna Fire Chief Terry Stouffer. “So, those new radios are going to be a big help.”  Follow Jeremy Arias on Twitter: @Jarias_Prime.
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