Bonfield is set to upgrade its emergency communications equipment.
The provincial government and Emergency Management Ontario has provided a Community Emergency Preparedness Grant to the municipality in the amount of $45,000.
Councillor Donna Clark noted, “It’s a significant amount of money to help with our communications equipment, and I think that’s great because every bit our municipality gets helps save costs and helps build our equipment supply.”
The funds will enhance radio communication for Bonfield’s first responders and emergency management personnel. Specifically, the project has three parts. There are plans to install a dispatch and voice logging system for Bonfield’s Fire Department radio communications, and a radio base station will be established for public works and the Fire Department.
Bonfield’s Chief Administrative Officer, Nicky Kunkel, added, “It will also connect public works, the administration, and emergency services in one area so we can communicate with the radios.”
The third part of the project is to replace older portable radios for both public works and fire services.
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Kunkel, in a report to council, emphasized, “Communication is one of the critical abilities and requirements in responding to any emergency. In the event of a sustained response to an emergency, the emergency operations centre will be activated and provide critical coordination and support to first responders.”
Further, Kunkel noted, “This project will improve and sustain a base for radio communication across all first responders in the event of any type of emergency that Bonfield will have to address.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.