Dick Aarons, the town’s deputy emergency manager and chairman of the Public Safety Radio Upgrade Task Force with handheld radios the town would purchase as part of a major radio overhaul subject to voter approval. They have large knobs and buttons, spaced out so they can be used by firefighters who might be wearing thick gloves. They also have screens on top, visible while clipped on a belt, as well as on the front like a normal radio or phone. Macklin Reid photo
Big firefighter gloves fumbling with tiny knobs and buttons. Wearing five incompatible radios at the scene of an emergency. Garbled transmissions and weak signals in many areas of town. Lack of communication between Ridgefield’s different departments and with the state.
Those are the headaches that a $3.7-million radio system upgrade would fix, said Dick Aarons, the town’s deputy emergency manager and chairman of the Public Safety Radio Upgrade Task Force that has spent the last two years putting the plan together.
The most significant benefit of the new system would be emergency responders’ ability to communicate with each other and dispatch from inside most houses anywhere in town — which isn’t possible now, Aarons said.
“This is especially important for police officers and medics who find that form of communications difficult in large patches of our community, including areas of Ridgebury, Farmingville, St. John’s, West Mountain, and Bennetts Farm,” Aarons said.
The project has been reviewed and approved by the Board of Police Commissioners, the Fire Commission, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the school board, the Board of Selectmen, and the Board of Finance. It goes to voters on Tuesday, May 12.
A new network
It’s more than walkie-talkies. The proposal is to build a new, more reliable network.
Even though it’s thought of as a radio system, the current network relies on telephone lines that have proven vulnerable during storms. There are receivers around town that pick up relatively weak transmissions from mobile radios and send them back to dispatch centers.
The new “simulcast” network would replace those telephone line connections with direct microwave links between the transmitter/receiver sites.
“Storm-related failures of phone lines has crippled emergency communications in the past,” Aarons said. With the new system, “each antenna site will have backup stormproof shelters for the radio equipment and backup generators to hold the system up during power failures.”
Compatibility
Today, the town’s departments have separate, incompatible systems and outdated systems, said Aarons.
Much of the town’s radio hardware is more than 20 years old. This aging technology creates reliability and product support issues.
The fire department is especially troubled, with an outdated “VHF low-band” dispatch system. The department and town have tried to extend the life of this system, but have run out of options.
Firefighters even deal with compatibility problems within the department, Aarons said.
“Various units of the fire department operate on three separate incompatible radio bands — VHF low-band for dispatch, VHF high-band for fire police and UHF for fire ground operations. This mix of bands requires communications officers to carry and manage three separate radios on the scene of a major incident,” Aarons said. “Ridgefield’s emergency management personnel carry five radios.”
In addition to all the hand-helds, fire trucks, ambulances and command cars are rigged with cross-band repeaters that Aarons said can mean more work for the users of the radios and an often garbled transmission.
The new system would unify the departments’ hardware, allowing firefighters and police to talk to each other, or to the highway department or potentially the schools.
These maps show current fire and police coverage, in purple, where signal strength is strong enough to work indoors in most houses. The unshaded areas do not have zero coverage, but a weaker signal. On the right, shaded in green, is the projected reliable coverage area of the new system.
Handsets
Though most of the proposed system wouldn’t be visible, the hand-held units used by police and firefighters would be upgraded, too. They’d be capable of digital and analog voice transmissions, text messages, special alert signals, and operating amateur frequencies that licensed fire police and emergency managers could use in a disaster. They also have bigger knobs with plenty of space in between them for use with big gloves, and an orange distress call button that’s about the size of a dime.
No local bids
Aarons and his task force took some heat with town officials for bringing the plan to them without any competitive bidding, instead going with Motorola, which is said to have a virtual monopoly on these kinds of radios. But, he argued, due diligence was done. The town essentially “piggybacks” off state contracts.
“The decision to grow Phase II on the work done in Phase I by the police department and Motorola was made early on,” Aarons said. “Most police, fire, and emergency management agencies in Connecticut, including the state police and Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS), use Motorola equipment.
“Indeed, modern simulcast systems such as the one proposed in this year’s upgrade have already been installed in Westport, Stamford, Redding, Southbury, New Milford, Newtown, New Fairfield, Monroe, Litchfield County, and Greenwich – just to name a few.
“Ridgefield is able to make the Motorola purchase without going to bid, because Connecticut towns are authorized to use state contracts and agreements resulting from earlier state competitive purchases. The proposed Ridgefield project is coming in 10% below the state contract prices that are already well below retail.
“Nevertheless, before deciding to go with Motorola, task force members discussed the experiences of peer fire, police and emergency management departments around the state and looked at the service capabilities of other providers.”
Looking ahead
This next phase of the project would expand upon the installation of new police dispatch equipment, and put similar equipment at the firehouse. Aarons said any future plans to move to a central dispatch would be supported by the system.
The school district is expected to connect to the system with a $400,000 project in next year’s capital budget.
“This radio project is long overdue,” Aarons said. “The Phase II radio infrastructure will bring a very significant increase to the safety and security of town residents and their first responders.”
Aarons is available to meet with clubs and other organizations to discuss the proposal further. He may be reached at demdrfld@gmail.com.