After 30 years on the same system, the Moncton Fire Department is getting a significant communications upgrade.
City Council approved the 800-thousand dollar purchase of new radios to join other first responders on a new provincial wide system called the New Brunswick Trunk Mobile Radio System.
Fire Chief Eric Arseneault says this upgrade will benefit the fire service, and enhance their interoperability.
“So now we’ll seamlessly be able to communicate and interact with other first responders if we’re dealing with large scale emergencies that require the coordination of many different agencies at the same time,” says Arseneault.
He used the example of a wildfire, where the Department of Natural Resources would be working hand in hand with different Fire Departments, the RCMP, and Ambulances among others.
He says they are replacing aging equipment, that is at the end of its life cycle and starting to fail more frequently.
The new radios from Motorola are specifically designed for firefighters.
“So they have some safety features in it that make it very palatable for us, some resistance to water, we work in a very wet environment,” says Arseneault. “But also a more robust construction for the radio.”
He says this allows all first responders from any part of the province to speak with one another without issue.
“Certainly the MacNeil report has been instrumental in the province making this decision, we are going to take advantage of that,” says Arseneault. “It’s something that’s been in our radar for some time, it’s just the timing is perfect right now to make this investment.”
The MacNeil report was released after the tragic shootings of June 4th 2014, and it identified the inability for different responders to communicate effectively because of different radio systems.
The new system is planned to go live this Fall.
