North Bay Fire and Emergency Services has been given approval by City Council to purchase new portable radios.
Roughly 15 years old, the current radios have reached the end of their life.
Any attempts to try and salvage them will result in additional costs says Deputy Chief Greg Saunders, and further to that, the technology used in the current radios is no longer being supported by the manufacturer.
“Quite frankly they’re not dependable anymore and there have been some technological advancements that really enhance firefighter safety,” said Saunders.
The new radios will still be worn in the pocket of the bunker gear, but the big difference is that they are Bluetooth compatible.
“The microphone is built right into the mask that we wear. So, in the old days, you would actually have to bring the radio to your mouth and talk. Now the firefighters can just talk and not have to worry about having to actually bring the radio to their faces. So, it really enhances firefighter safety,” Saunders explained.
“When a firefighter is in a dangerous environment, they can just talk and the communications are far, far clearer than they’ve been in the past. When you’re in a fire it is really difficult to communicate and understand the radio transmission. It is really loud in a fire quite frankly and this really allows us to communicate a lot better.”
Council has approved spending $80,272 for the purchase of 55 new high-tech radios, in the past, the service had 75 radios.
“We’re still able to manage and provide adequate firefighter safety for our people,” Saunders said.
“We actually decided that we can function and still be effective with significantly fewer radios than we had in the past, but it is providing the portable radios for a whole service.”
Saunders pointed out that most of the large municipal departments are using this type of portable radio.
“The volunteer departments don’t typically operate inside the structure, they do more defensive fires than offensive fire attacks. And because we do offensive fire attacks, we’re in the hazard zone a lot more frequently, so it is imperative that our firefighters be able to communicate.”
The radios should arrive within the month.
