Fire departments and emergency medical units are set to start using Luzerne County’s upgraded radio communication system around 10 a.m. Wednesday, said county 911 Executive Director Fred Rosencrans.
To ensure all issues were worked out, 911 limited the initial activation to Wilkes-Barre fire and police calls in September and then the county sheriff’s department.
The remaining police departments switched to the new system earlier this month, Rosencrans said.
Rosencrans said no significant glitches have been discovered to date.
“It’s been a very successful cutover. Everything has been going very well,” he said.
Fire and EMS agencies are the largest group and may require extra attention because so many volunteers are involved, he said.
“Some departments only get a few calls a year, and they have to go to their station to switch radios,” he said.
In all, more than 180 agencies will use the new system, Rosencrans said.
The project includes additional communication towers in new locations, improved microwaves and the replacement of a 20-year-old analog radio system with a new digital one for law enforcement and emergency responders to exchange messages.
It corrected spotty or nonexistent emergency radio coverage throughout the 906-square-mile county, ended radio interference and opened up more radio channels for responders.
The system includes new mobile and portable radio equipment for police and other emergency responders and base-station mobile radios with a panic button in all schools.
Motorola Solutions Inc., which was awarded the radio system contract, is contractually bound to ensure the county has 95% emergency radio coverage, 95% of the time.
Police calls are now encrypted on the new system for officer safety at the request of the Luzerne County Chiefs of Police Association, although fire and EMS channels won’t be encrypted, Rosencrans has said.
Anyone interested in listening to fire and EMS communications must purchase a digital scanner, he has said.
Rosencrans said the new system allows police involved in specific incidents to switch to a tactical channel so they are all on the same page. A tactical channel was used for response to a standoff stemming from a domestic incident on Friday night in Dallas Township, he said.