By Leah Murray

City implementing new radio network for first responders

Nov 6, 2017 | 7:44 PM

MEDICINE HAT – The City of Medicine Hat has invested in some new technology aimed at helping first responders communicate more effectively.

The city and all 9-1-1 dispatch will be moving over to the Alberta First Responders Radio Communications System (AFRRCS).

According to the information posted on the Government of Alberta website “AFRRCS is a two-way radio network for first responders in municipal, provincial and First Nations agencies across the province. The Alberta government is funding the network’s construction, operation and maintenance, and it became operational on July 1, 2016.”

The new technology will replace aging equipment for Medicine Hat police, fire and utility crews.

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“We currently operate our own system, but it’s at end of life,” explained corporate services commissioner Brian Mastel. “So, we had to look at options either to replace it, or to look at the provincial system which has been in place for a number of years already.”

Installing the new radio system comes at a cost of $1,974,966 which is nearly $400,000 under what was budgeted for in the 2016 budget cycle.

It’s expected the AFRRCS system will improve how emergency services personnel communicate in an emergency.

“It was important for us to get our emergency services onto a platform that’s inter-operable with other emergency services providers such as the RCMP,” Mastel said.

“They’re able to communicate more seamlessly to each other through this system than working through dispatchers.”

Police, Fire Services, 911 dispatch, environmental, gas and electric utilities, along with Transit will all switch over to the new system.

Mastel said he’s unsure when it will be online.