GOSHEN—Sometime in 2017 all of Orange County’s various emergency service agencies will be able to communicate with one another on the same radio system, a development welcomed by fire and police departments and ambulance services.
The county legislature voted on Dec. 3 to approve bonding for $11 million for an integrated radio project that includes construction of new towers, new radios and other equipment for more than 100 fire, police, and EMS agencies.
Currently the various agencies are connected through a patchwork of systems, which means fire departments can communicate among themselves, but may not be able to communicate with police, or vice versa.
“Public safety agencies within Orange County are using a variety of [Land Mobile Radio] LMR systems to provide for their wireless communications needs. Many agencies use more than one system to achieve LMR interoperability,” a county plan for interoperable communications says.
The new radios would allow all the various agencies responding to an emergency to communicate at once “without having to jump through any hoops,” Emergency Services Commissioner, Walter Koury said.
