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County EMA receives radio grant for all fire departments in county

The Huntington County Emergency Management Agency has been awarded a $478,852 grant to buy new radios for every fire department in the county.

Brandon Taylor, director of the Emergency Management, announced the grant Monday morning, Jan. 4, at the Huntington County Board of Commissioners meeting.
Taylor said after the meeting that 122 hand-held, 40 truck-mountable and 10 department-housed units will be bought, along with 121 new pagers. There are around 200 firefighters in the county, so the equipment won't cover everyone, but it will cover those on duty, he says.

Taylor explains that in 2013, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will require an 800-megahertz system, and the grant money will buy the updated equipment.
The application process, Taylor says, went through EMA, but the Huntington Fire Department is the host department, so the rest of the process - getting the equipment - will be done through that department.

There is a match amount involved, though. The seven stations in the county are to split the $47,885 in match costs, but Taylor asked the commissioners during the meeting if they could pay for some, if not all, of the amount to take the weight off of each depart-ment. Taylor says the commissioners expressed an openness to "look into it."

Taylor says equipment that is identical across the state will allow neighboring counties to converse back and forth if there would be an extreme emergency.