Grant to improve firefighter radio communications in NY county

By Thomas J. Prohaska
The Buffalo News

LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Niagara County plans to improve its fire radio communications system with more than $1.5 million in federal aid, Emergency Management Director James C. Volkosh said Tuesday.

The County Legislature is expected to pass a resolution next week accepting the homeland security grants; the Legislature's Administration Committee did so Tuesday.

Volkosh said plans include the installation of two receiver sites to relay radio transmissions from firefighters in the field to dispatchers. The purchase of more mobile radios for vehicles and portable radios for firefighters also is on tap.

Volkosh said the county is continuing to build a system of interoperable communications that eventually would enable members of all fire and police departments to talk directly to each other.

On the fire side, Volkosh said Niagara Falls is aboard and North Tonawanda's equipment is mostly in hand but not yet installed.

The City of Lockport is refusing to take part because of a long-running personnel dispute between the city and the firefighters union.

Volkosh said the county eventually will change all fire dispatching to a higher radio frequency on the UHF band. It controls some 41 UHF channels, but so far the county is able to use only one channel for two-way talk between dispatchers and firefighters.

He said the county's share of the grant money will enable the county to open up three more channels for such use.

Some volunteer fire companies are still using the older VHF radio system because of their inability to buy UHF pagers for members.

"It's their responsibility to buy their people the alerting devices they need," Volkosh said. "Money's tight. Times are tough."

The UHF pagers cost about $500 each, and the county has decided it won't buy them for the local companies. "We thought it was enough to buy them portables and mobiles," Volkosh said.

Besides communications gear, the homeland security grants will be used to continue Community Emergency Response Training for civilians; conduct a federally mandated evaluation of firefighter training needs; and rewrite the county hazardous materials plan and a county protection plan.

Volkosh said the county's grant, which was slightly larger than last year's, is aimed more at planning and evaluation than at equipment purchases. "It depends what the federal government's priorities are," he said.

The money comes in two chunks: directly from Washington through the Urban Area Security Initiative, and from Washington via Albany under the State Homeland Security Program.

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