A proposal to provide $626,000 in important upgrades to Nassau County’s fire communication dispatching framework and software was approved in committee.
On October 7, the Legislature’s Rules committee approved a purchase order in the amount of $385,664.20 for “voting” equipment, diagramming, and installation services necessary to repair and upgrade Firecomm’s Adtran operating system. Firecomm’s network has multiple antennas at its disposal, and the “voter” equipment identifies the strongest signal and uses that path for more efficient and prompt communications, officials told the Rules committee in testimony. Firecomm’s radio systems suffered outages in February that forced first responders onto a backup system.
The committee also approved an additional $240,737.08 with Eastern Communications to update Firecomm’s second Fieldcom unit to upgrade remote dispatch capabilities in the event that the county’s brick-and-mortar facilities are not available, especially in the event of a disaster.
Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro told the Rules committee that the actions its members took are a step toward fully transitioning to a state-of-the-art fiber optic framework that ensures Nassau’s first responders are operating seamlessly on a modern, integrated communications framework.
“Nassau County’s volunteer firefighters rush toward danger to protect their neighbors on a daily basis, and the radio outage that occurred this winter served as a stark reminder that we must always be vigilant in ensuring that our first responders are always well equipped to serve and protect the public,” Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) said. “I was proud to support these investments in communications technology that will help our frontline heroes work even more efficiently and keep themselves safe as they respond to emergencies.”