City gets $900,000 disaster aid for radios

ALBANY — The city of Watertown will receive more than $900,000 to improve emergency communications between first responders to natural and man-made disasters. The funds are part of a $12 million statewide package of Public Safety Interoperable Communications grants announced Wednesday.

City Fire Chief Daniel Gaumont said the money will fund a communication system that will enable members of the city police and fire departments, as well as the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and the county Office of Fire and Emergency Management, to talk to each other.

"Currently, we're all on different channels," said Mr. Gaumont, who wrote the grant application. "It can be a real problem to communicate when you need to — it makes it difficult to know what's going on."

The new system will provide "gateways" to bridge the different radio frequencies used by the various agencies, the fire chief said. He added that a meeting will be held next week to begin the process of replacing the radios currently used by the city fire and police departments and the county sheriff's office.

"We felt it to be vital in our area to be able to talk to any agency," Mr. Gaumont said. And because the region features a major military post, a highly traveled interstate highway, the St. Lawrence Seaway, an international boundary and often-brutal winter weather, emergency service responders will also need to be able to communicate with such diverse agencies as the state police, the U.S. Coast Guard and Fort Drum, he said.

"We see this as a first step," Mr. Gaumont continued. "We hope to provide a solid backbone here in hope that the system will expand to all fire departments, police departments and ambulances in Jefferson County."

"This is great news for the city of Watertown and Jefferson County," said Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent. "This is something I've advocated for since the ice storm when one of the biggest problems we had was communication. With this funding, first responders throughout the county, from police to fire and ambulance, will be better equipped to coordinate during emergencies and that will improve our public safety. I'm pleased to see that Homeland Security recognized the need because communication in a public emergency is extremely important."

Under the first-year PSIC program, applicants were required to cover more than one jurisdiction and be multi-disciplined. Agencies receiving funds were required to meet and document a 20 percent statutory match requirement for each project during a period of 27 months.

The PSIC grants come from funds administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in conjunction with the federal Department of Homeland Security. New York state's total award was $60 million, $34 million of which went to the New York City area. Watertown's grant total is $901,600.

The remaining $14 million of the federal grant will be used by the state in support of interoperable communication initiatives, one of which includes six interoperable vehicles assigned to the State Emergency Management Office.