Radio System Concerns Monroe County (NY) Firefighters

It’s a firefighter’s worst nightmare: Trapped inside a smoke-filled basement, he radios for help. But he can’t get a signal. He speaks, but his colleagues and dispatchers hear nothing, reports the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Monroe County leaders and fire district officials agree that no firefighter should ever wind up in such a desperate position. But they are still working out how to ensure that the county’s new multimillion-dollar digital radio system can prevent it from happening.

It is perhaps the most pressing and troubling of several crucial technical questions that fire districts say they and the county must answer before a switch to the new system, tentatively planned for 2016.

The radio network is one of the centerpieces of a sweeping 20-year, $212 million plan to overhaul Monroe County’s public safety communication and security infrastructure. County leaders in 2010 contracted a local development corporation, or LDC, to carry out the job. These private, nonprofit companies with close ties to government have come under scrutiny since the indictment last fall of four local men accused of rigging contracts through them.

The challenges with the radio network appear unrelated to that scandal, but creating the network is why one of the LDCs was created in the first place — so understanding this underlying contractual work is key to a full understanding of the controversy.

Furthermore, communities across the U.S. have encountered — and resolved — similar concerns with new radio systems. So overcoming the challenges is achievable.

Read more of the story here http://on.rocne.ws/1g96FOF