Pulaski County Council Approves Fire Dept. Radio Purchases

Five firefighters in Pulaski County are currently without radios due to an increase in department staffing, and EMA Director Larry Hoover approached the county council this week with a request to purchase six additional 800MHz radios to allow them to get to work protecting the county. Hoover told the council that three fire departments have increased in size enough that they no longer have enough radios to supply every firefighter with one and requested them to approve his purchase to allow them to safely begin fighting those fires.

Hoover told the council that the 911 Fund held a balance of $389,000, part which could be used to purchase the radio equipment for first responders. He said the six radios would come at a cost of $14,500, and said they’re a necessary purchase, as these radios are their main avenue for communicating with firefighters.

“Our county is primarily 800MHz, unlike most counties who still have the VHF. We only use VHF basically for paging and our backup, secondary system. So the 800s are our primary forms of communication, and the fire departments have added enough guys that they are short radios for their firefighters, so it becomes a life safety issue for them,” Hoover explained.

Hoover said the fire departments in Medaryville, Monterey, and Winamac are in need of the radios, and the one extra radio would be purchased in case of an additional hire. The council unanimously approved Hoover’s request, allowing him to purchase the six radios through Emergency Radio Service, a Motorola two-way radio dealer.