When Lake Zurich was offered a grant for $100,000 less than it needed to buy new radios, acting Fire Chief John Kelly remained determined, he said.
“A Washington, D.C., FEMA official called, asked a couple of questions and asked me to put in exactly what we wanted,” Kelly recalled. “I did it and called him back, and he said OK. It just took a phone call and a couple, few sentences of an amendment. The guy understood and restored the financing.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, awarded Lake Zurich a $218,850 grant to buy 43 radios that will allow the Fire Rescue Department to continue communication with area police and aid partners as they transition to a new radio system, Kelly said.
Lake Zurich must match at least 10 percent of the grant to cover the full cost of about $240,000, he said.
Incoming Fire Chief John Malcolm, who takes over Oct. 19, praised Kelly for taking the initiative to secure federal money and free up local dollars for other uses.
“It’s always a great thing for the department and the community that you can take advantage of grants and have money available for other projects,” Malcolm said.
Lake Zurich plans to purchase 23 dual-band portable radios and 20 single-band mobile radios, Kelly said. The new radios will allow fire rescue personnel to communicate with Lake Zurich, Kildeer and Hawthorn Woods police, who are transitioning soon with Lake County police to the StarCom 21 statewide trunked radio system, he said.
“It’s a key piece of equipment we use,” Malcolm said. “Interoperability is paramount in what we do. We have to be able to talk to other staff and the police department and our automatic aid partners, so we can communicate with them.”
As the transition to Starcom 21 occurs in the coming months, the current radio frequencies used by Lake Zurich firefighters will become extinct, Kelly said.
The trunked StarCom 21 radio system is a computer-controlled two-way radio system that allows the sharing of relatively few frequency channels among a large group of users, he said.
“It could be Lake Zurich or a Lake County talk group,” Kelly said. “There are so many (channels) within each frequency. A particular segment of the trunk is open, and you can talk on it. If you don’t have the radio and programming, you’re not going to be able to hear it. The radio signal and computer system decides how to assign you within a talk group.”
Assistance to Firefighters Grants are awarded through a competitive application process to fire departments, emergency medical services organizations and state fire training academies, he said.
“They put out an announcement annually,” Kelly said. “They lay out guidelines of how to apply, steps you need to go through, specifically about what funding is available. There is a peer review. If you do not fill it out correctly, the computer kicks out your application and you’re done.”
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @PhilRockrohr
