James MayseOwensboro
Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
(TNS)
The firm that installed the county’s digital 911 radio system is working with Daviess County officials to alleviate spots in areas near Yelvington where volunteer firefighters aren’t receiving pager notification.
Daviess County Fire Chief Jeremy Smith said there are areas around Yelvington that are not receiving radio and pager notifications. While some radio traffic is affected in those areas, mostly pagers that notify volunteer firefighters are affected, Smith said.
“We don’t know the exact extent of it,” Smith said Monday.
The pagers used are from Unication, the only manufacturer of pagers for the digital system used by the county. Smith said the pagers notify responders of fire or emergency calls, and provide additional information.
Firefighters in the affected areas also get notifications of calls on their cell phones, so firefighters are being notified, Smith said. The phone system does not provide as much information as the pager, but does alert firefighters to the need to respond, Smith said.
The Yelvington Fire Department has not missed any calls because of the issues, which only affects firefighters who are in the affected areas, Smith said.
“As far as I know, no one has ever failed to res-pond to an incident,” Smith said.
The county fire department also responds along with Yelvington to fire and emergency calls in the Yelvington area.
Paul Nave, 911 director for the city and county, said the issue is isolated.
“The vast majority of (the county) is covered,” Nave said.
The old system had problem areas, due to issues such as topography, foliage or atmospheric conditions.
Smith said the consultant is working to identify the issue. A fix will be recommended to Daviess Fiscal Court.
Nave said the solution could be to install more transmission equipment “maybe on some existing infrastructure in the county, or they may elect to build” a transmission tower, Nave said.
“It has been put into the consultant’s hands to put all the data together,” Nave said, and that the hope it to have a solution to recommend to county officials in 60 to 90 days.
Smith said the digital radio, which replaced the outdated VHF system, works much better than what responders had before.
“Our radio system is 1,000 times better” than the old system, Smith said, and that radio coverage under the VHF system was “less than 70%.”
“We have somewhere around 93 to 94% coverage area” with the digital system, Smith said.
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