Firefighters get FEMA grant

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SLAYTON — Firefighters from the small departments in Murray County can breathe a little easier today.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the award of $872,629 through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program, which will be used to equip the fire departments in Murray County with ARMER radios.

“The grant will equip all fire departments in Murray County with ARMER radios for their vehicles, portable radios, and narrow band pagers,” stated Murray County Chief Deputy Randy Donahue, who has been a driving force behind getting Murray County prepared for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandate that requires public safety entities to convert to a narrowband system on or before Jan. 1, 2013.

Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) is a radio system developed to improve public safety providers’ ability to communicate and respond in a coordinated manner during an emergency. Of the 87 counties in Minnesota, more than 70 have either switched over or are planning to switch to the ARMER system. The bulk of those not using ARMER or undecided are in the northwest corner of the state.

The interoperable radio system was developed by the Public Safety Radio System Planning Committee established by the 2002 Minnesota legislature.

“When the process started, I felt that this was going to be such a costly project we needed to get everyone together to go after county-wide grants,” Donahue explained. “To that end, I coordinated a meeting on May 13, 2009 at the Murray County Court House with representatives of the local fire departments, ambulance services and first responders.” 

At the meeting, guest speaker Marv Calvin, fire chief for the Willmar Fire Department, spoke about a proposed statewide ARMER system and what it meant to firefighters and first responders. After the meeting, Donahue said, local fire chiefs gathered and discussed hiring someone to write a joint application for the 2009 AFG.

“Terrah Biegert is the Willmar Fire Department Administrative Assistant and has had very good grant writing success,” Donahue said.  “She was hired the evening of the meeting and had to hit the project hard because the grant deadline for submission was one week away.” 

According to the FEMA website, the primary goal of the AFG is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations. Since 2001, the grants have helped firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources needed to protect the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.

“This grant will allow the fire departments to migrate their radio traffic onto the state ARMER system and meet the FCC compliance deadline,” Donahue stated. “The match amount will be $45,927 that the departments will pay to get the $872,629.”

Donahue’s goal is to transition the county to the ARMER system by Jan. 1, 2011.

“We have already secured portable radios for all county and city law enforcement officers through a (separate) matching grant,” he added. “I have several other grant applications pending that, if awarded, will be applied toward dispatch and mobile radios for county and city patrol cars.”

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