No one has been injured as a result of Butler County’s spotty emergency communications system—so far. But Emergency Communications warn that it is only a matter of time before something tragic happens as a result of the county’s communication systems, which frequently experience disruptions inside buildings and in parts of the county, reports KWCH-TV.
Rose Hill Fire Chief Jim Woydziak gave a hypothetical example of something that could occur as a result of the system’s failure, but thankfully has not. “If we had an emergency situation with someone, firefighters in the house and something dangerous was occurring and we had to get a hold of them, tell them to get out, there could be a problem there,” Woydziak told KWCH.
Currently, the county has a contract with Motorola to operate its emergency communication system. Under that agreement, Motorola must promise to cover 95 percent of the county, a target Woydziak said the wireless company is meeting.
“It meets specs. However, it seems that some of our population in the southwest portion of the county, is in the five percent,” says Butler County Assistant Director of Emergency Communications Jeremy Seglem.
The county has nearly finished paying for the radio system, some three years earlier than expected thanks to a quarter-percent increase in sales tax. Emergency communications is asking to keep that tax in place and use the funds to pay for an upgrade to an existing cell tower in the area that would bolster the current radio system; an upgrade would cost roughly $650,000.
June 15, 2017
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