County to replace emergency radios

First responders in Austin County will be armed with state-of-the-art equipment this year, thanks to a $1.04 million grant aimed at bettering their communication radios.

The funds, by way of a state grant and local matching funds, will help make possible changes in a statewide plan that seeks to better regional and statewide radio communications.

“This is a huge amount of money that is going to be granted to Austin County,” said County Judge Carolyn Bilski.

As part of Homeland Security improvements post 9/11, public safety - including law enforcement and emergency management services - are upgrading their radios.

The county stands to gain 88 portable and 61 mobile devices. Of that, 30 portable and 11 mobile devices will go to the Austin County EMS with the rest going to the sheriff’s office.

“It will not buy the new radios for everyone, but it will be enough money to get the (Austin County) Sheriff’s Department and EMS radios purchased,” Bilski said.

Funds will also go to build and improve needed infrastructure to support the new system.

Required local matching funds will come from the Brazos Valley Council of Governments and Liberty County, which donated $20,000 of its unused 2007 Public Safety Interoperable Communication (PSIC) grant.

“What money they weren’t able to use in the grant cycle, they’re putting into ours,” Bilski explained. “It’s part of a statewide program and for the greater good it will help them as much as it helps us.”

Commissioners are expected to meet this week for final approval of the plan.

Radios could be in the hands of crews as early as March.

This is the first of several phases of the project, which has been three years in the making.

“When the governor of Texas first asked that everyone be able to communicate statewide, we weren’t in any position to go out and buy $4,000 radios for everybody and then to establish a backup system,” Bilski said.

Rescue crews can talk locally on current radios. With the advanced technology, workers will now be compatible with Fort Bend and Harris counties, opening up communication lines even more.

Bilski said the county is building on what it already has available to first responders and will now come out better than those counties who purchased the radios three years ago because the radios have improved.

“We’re going to get what is state-of-the-art equipment,” she said.

“It means that in times of a regional disaster, we will have access to other first responder agencies beyond our own,” Bilski added.

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