Medford Area Fire Commission OKs radio purchase partnership with county

County will tap federal grants to pay for 75% of cost; commission looks ahead to vehicle needs

EMILY GOJMERAC

REPORTER

On June 15 members of the Medford Area Joint Fire Commission got the ball rolling on some important necessities that have been in the works for the past few years.

First, there has been some discussion of replacing the portable radios for the fire fighters during calls. Fire Chief Mike Filas explained that the radios that the department has now, were new to them in 2011, but the year that the radios were brand new was between the years 2004-2007.

Clarence Kropp voiced his concern when he asked “Why haven’t these radios been changed sooner? What happens when a man is in a house somewhere and the radio doesn’t work? What happens then?”

Lester Lewis assured Kropp that they were voting in favor of getting new radios, not against them.

The county Finance Committee approved paying for 75% of the price of the radios using federal ARPA grant money and the fire department will pay for the other 25% of the cost.

There would be 27 new radios that would be ordered. With that said, the total cost of the new radios is $71,900 the county would pay an estimated $53,000 to cover the 75% of the funds. The fire department would pay $18,000 of it. Chief Filas said “We have the funds out of our Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) fund to afford our 25% in the budget.”

The board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of new radios.

The truck replacement fund was another topic of discussion amongst board members. Chief Filas said “I put a 2% increase to the truck replacement fund budget for 2024.”

The current balance of the truck replacement fund is $257,000. The department needs a total of $340,000 to purchase a new fire truck. This cost is priced for the 2024 budget, however, the truck won’t be purchased until 2025.