AFG Grant Helps CT Firefighters Upgrade Radios

HAMDEN — The Fire Department secured a $350,000 federal grant to completely overhaul its antiquated radio system, which should last more than 10 years and take a financial burden off taxpayers, officials said.

The highly competitive Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will allow the department to replace all radios in the fleet, as well as the handheld portables for each firefighting position.

Fire Chief Gary Merwede said the equipment will be useful for more than 10 years and helps the town and taxpayers save money because the radio system no longer needs to be in next year’s capital budget.

The new radios will be tri-band and allow direct communication with surrounding police, fire and EMS agencies, as well as the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

The grant will buy about 55 portable radios that each firefighter on shift will have, and about 20 mobile radios that are kept in each of the department’s vehicles, Merwede said.

The department has been using single-band VHF radios, many of which have been in use longer than 10 years, some exceeding 15 years. The radios aren’t upgradeable and in most cases no longer are supported by replacement parts.

Modern firefighting operations also require interagency communication with police and emergency medical services, which isn’t possible with the current equipment. This is especially important since, on average, 74 percent of Hamden’s more than 10,000 emergency responses are for medical emergencies, according to the department.

With the old radios, the department couldn’t communicate directly with the North Haven or New Haven departments without going through an emergency call center. But now teams in the trucks can communicate directly with those towns.

Merwede said improving safety is a great motivator to get funding and get things done.

“We’ve got a dedicated internal team that combs through documents to find these grants,” Merwede said.

He said the award is significant for the department because they haven’t received an AFG grant in seven years and they are highly competitive.

“We were really happy to be successful,” he said.

He expects that after FEMA releases the grant money and the town issues a request for proposal on the equipment, the department will be trained on it and operational with the radios early next year.

Merwede said they’ll keep the old radios because they still own the frequency channel and give some to the Community Emergency Response Team, who works closely with the fire department.

Even though the radios aren’t suitable for front line emergency response, there’s a possibility of repurposing the radios for Public Works use, Merwede said.

In addition to the grant for the radio system, the department received $45,983 to purchase personal protective equipment as it continues to respond to emergencies during the coronavirus pandemic.

The grant can cover reimbursements to prevent, prepare for and respond to the coronavirus pandemic in any form. Merwede said this grant will save the department from having to make any emergency purchases for PPE if the virus caseload surges again.

For both grants, the town needs to match them by 10 percent, spending the Legislative Council approved this week from its Emergency and Contingency account.

“We have an extraordinarily tight budget and there’s concern about dipping into our E&C account but this is a pretty good investment,” Council President Michael McGarry said.

The council unanimously approved the grants and praised Merwede and the Fire Department for finding ways to help the town with such a large expense.

Merwede said they did apply for a hardship waiver with the grant so the town wouldn’t need to match the funds given the town’s financial struggle, but that the council shouldn’t count on receiving it.

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