Emergency Preparedness

Regional Radio Communications System

Project Overview

In 2003, Tri-State Fire Mutual Aid began work to develop a new radio communications system for Franklin County that not only addressed a need to move fire and emergency medical services off low band radio communications but also met the important objective of assuring basic level interoperability between public safety entities throughout the Franklin County region and the greater western Massachusetts region. The group included participation from Franklin County Fire, Police, Emergency Medical Services, the Franklin County LEPC and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, who will all share licenses of the system. Under grant funding from the Department of Justice, FRCOG provided staff and funding to the Tri State Fire Mutual Aid Communications Working Group to assist the development of preliminary planning for the project and the submittal of a proposal to the Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council for funding. FRCOG also coordinated a cooperative bid for local purchase of mobile and portable radios to work with the system.

Current Activities

The regional radio system is now under construction with $1.5 million in funding from the Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council. The system connects with the Western Mass Law Enforcement Council emergency radio communications system, and utilizes the same 450 MHz technology. Compatibility of the system with WMLEC and other radio projects under construction in the western Massachusetts region assures the system will serve the needs of the region for a long time to come. In its role as fiduciary serving the Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council, FRCOG coordinated procurement processes to hire a vendor to engineer and implement the system, and also the hire of a radio communications consulting firm to oversee technical coordination of this project with other interoperable communications projects being implemented in the Western Massachusetts region.

Future Plans

Next steps for the system are to define usage protocols for agencies utilizing the new regional radio system. The regional radio consultant hired by the Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council is assisting responding agencies to achieve this goal and to provide training to Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services users of the system. Eventual plans are to use the built-in capacity of the system to include the addition to the system of other public safety agencies such as public health and public works and to expand channel capacity. Staff and the executive committee of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments are coordinating the development of an advisory committee involving all regional responder agencies to develop and oversee a process for the ongoing maintenance of the regional system following the warranty period.

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