The Baie Verte Volunteer Fire Department will soon receive an upgrade to their communications system.
The price tag of the system is roughly $22,000, and is being shared by the Town of Baie Verte and the provincial government. Deputy fire chief Darrell Barker says the new technology was greatly needed.
"The system we have now is old and obsolete," he said. "There are no parts for it anymore, and we have a hard job finding the type of batteries it uses."
As Mr. Barker explained, the new radios and pagers in this system will have a useful function that the older models didn't have.
"When a call comes in, the officer will be able to talk directly to the person and fill in more details about what is happening," said Mr. Barker. "We will be able to gain new details on instances right away, like if we're looking for certain locations, or want to know how many occupants are involved in an accident."
Presently, when someone calls the fire department, they immediately hear an automated recording and the person states the emergency and the location, and that message is automatically transferred to the pagers used by the firefighters. But if they require further information from the caller, the old pagers don't have the capabilities.
"More information out of the person making the call gives us more preparedness and helps us know what we're dealing with before we arrive on scene," he said.
The updated equipment includes a new base station, two vehicle radios, four portable radios, four pager radios and 20 regular pagers. It will arrive and be implemented in the weeks to come.
