North Bay Fire Department getting new radios

North Bay City Council has approved an $80,000 contract for new portable radios.

Fire Chief Jason Whiteley says the current radios are 15 years old and repair costs are becoming a concern.

“We were starting to get into a high cost of maintenance and the manufacturer wasn’t supporting it. Fire ground communications is paramount to firefighter safety and efficiency on the fire ground,” Whiteley says.

Whiteley says communication is so important when putting out blazes.

“The downtown fire is an example. We had firefighters on either side of the building. So to coordinate that fire attack it’s crucial to have good communications,” he says.

He says they previously purchased blue tooth technology which isn’t being used with the current radios but will be with the new ones.

Whiteley says North Bay Police uses what’s called a P25 standard in their radios.

He says they looked at it but it would be too costly.

Still he says the new radios will have the ability to switch to that standard.

(photo by station staff)