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Five Towns ambulance services and fire department communications to be upgraded
Radios in 192 ambulances across Nassau County, including all fire departments in the Five Towns, will be upgraded with new radio equipment to meet a federal radio mandate that allows for better communication between ambulances and police.
Hewlett, Inwood, Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Meadowmere and Woodmere Fire Departments, will be required to install radios with a more usable bandwidth, according to Executive Officer and Officer of Chief Support for the Nassau County Police Department, Ed Horace.
U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer announced on Feb. 27 that $651,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was obtained to provide 70 Nassau County Fire Departments and Volunteer Ambulance Corps with the new radio equipment. Horace also gave credit to Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano for helping to obtain the grant money.
The Nassau County Police Department applied for the grant last spring, Horace said. The new equipment would replace the 20-year-old system and the amount of radio sites across the county will be increased from six to 24 radios to provide for more radio coverage.
Woodmere Fire Department Chief Richard Jankosky Jr. said though the radio mandate is mainly for EMS and emergency disasters, the fire department will benefit. “Any new and improved communication will help the fire service,” he said. “Any time there is grant money available for equipment like this, it benefits the local fire departments and fire districts.”
Lawrence Cedarhurst Fire Department Asst. Fire Chief Joseph Sperber said the fire department did not receive any grant money yet but that they are looking forward to receiving it to account for the cost of the new radio equipment, which is expected to be nearly $3,500.
According to Sperber, the new technology will help the fire department serve the public better. “The reception and transmission of (radio) frequencies allows us to hear better and transmit from remote locations inside a building,” he said. “We tend to have problems reaching medical control from where we’re at in the Five Towns with air traffic and this is supposed to be a better system.”
