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Craighead County Fire Districts Say Communication Upgrades Needed Immediately

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Craighead County has ten firefighting districts…mainly in rural areas.  The districts are mostly volunteer.  The Craighead County Quorum Court heard concerns from those fire districts about the need for communication upgrades.  

The problems include firefighters using analog equipment in a time when digital signals are more clear, a lack of funds to quickly replace old radios and repeaters with newer one, and antiquated communications systems that need a digital overhaul with what is called a “Next-Generation 911 system”. 

David Moore is the Director of the Craighead County Office of Emergency Management.  He says during a call, firefighters have major problems trying to reach 911 dispatch and hearing responses.

"Coverage in certain areas are spotty at best," says Moore.  "The type of system that we have now consists of one transmitter with analog radios.  When you get to the outlying areas, the reception is bad.  It is a problem getting the signal back to dispatch."

Fire Chief of the Bay Fire Department Kevin McMasters tells about additional problems that are faced by the fire districts.

"Our system is so outdated that there are serious issues that we are facing," says McMasters.  "One of the problems is that calls are not recorded so we can't evaluate what we did right or what we did wrong.  We have other issues that have got to be fixed, but it costs money." 

How much money?  McMasters says there is a two pronged plan to get what is needed to fix the problem.  The first prong consists of upgrading the dispatch center in Jonesboro to make it easier for the dispatcher to talk to the firefighters.  This would include placing a console right where the dispatcher is instead of in close proximity of the dispatcher.  A recorder would also be purchased to review calls for future improvement of response to emergencies.  Those small fixes would cost about 12 to 13 thousand dollars.  The second prong, which would take place in the future, would cost much more money—in the seven figure range.  That is because a complete overhaul of the communications system would be involved…which includes switching everything over from analog signals to digital communications.  Director of the Jonesboro and Craighead County E-911 Jeff Presley says the current communications problem is life threatening.

"Every day that we operate like this, we are rolling the dice and it is going to cost someone their life," says Presley.  "Not only does it put our firefighters at risk, but it also puts the people we are trying to help at risk. We are one incident away from lawsuits being filed.  One lawsuit would pay for for at least 10 of those radio upgrades.  We are not able to protect people at the best of our ability." 

Some members of the Quorum Court asked funding questions, about state and federal grants that might be available. Others asked about other options for money, such as funds that might come from those who live in the districts.  Some grant money is available, but the grant money goes to those districts who are working in larger regional hubs.  Northwest and central Arkansas have regional dispatch centers that serve several counties at once, not just an individual county.  Kevin McMasters from Bay told the Quorum Court that the fire districts have each assessed themselves and have received some money from those who live in the district.   However, those money are for keeping current equipment updated, new equipment, insurance and other needs.  They say this communication issue should be handled through the Quorum Court.  Justice of the Peace Josh Longmire says the funding issue is a problem.

"It is $13,000 and we do spend more than that on other things that we don't get anything like what we would get from this investment," says Longmire.  "That being said, I would like to see a survey done to see what kind of savings would be passed on to taxpayers.  There is the option to see how much the fire districts can raise on their own and how much we can help match."

One suggestion was for the fire districts to try to raise about 65-hundred dollars on their own, and for the county to match the rest.  It was also suggested that the fire districts could try raising funds through a Go Fund Me page or during the County Fair in September.  The issue could be picked up again in October.  

Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.