HANOVER, Pa. — Firefighters were forced to use cell phones to communicate during a fire in Pennsylvania due to issues with a $36 million county radio system, it emerged this week.
In the wake of the problems in the Hanover area, the IAFF has drafted a letter to the county on behalf of local responders, Penn Township Chief Jan Cromer said at a public safety committee meeting Tuesday.
The Evening Sun reported the latest incident occurred when firefighters from York and Adams counties arrived at the scene of a working structure fire. When they called on York County’s emergency radio system to patch together the frequencies for the two counties’ departments, there was a blackout, according to the report.
Hanover-area fire officials told the newspaper that the system is unreliable and was implemented too soon, without proper testing or appropriate back-up measures in place.
During the radio blackout, Chief Cromer said crews were forced to communicate with each other by cell phone. The county radio system went live in July 2009, but there have been numerous problems with dropped or missed radio calls.
But Eric Bistline, executive director of the York County Department of Emergency Services, told The Evening Sun the problem is being addressed, with officials and technicians trying to isolate the problem.
“The system now is not working the way we want it to work, obviously,” he said. “But we recognize its importance, and we’re trying very hard to correct it.”