Rural fire system problems addressed

Sebastian County officials continue working with DCS Radio Communication, Inc., DX Radio Systems, and the Sebastian County Fire Association (SCFA) to find a solution to rural fire system pager woes.

The faulty notification system has already led to one Greenwood property burning to the ground, but DCS President Ken Kennedy is confident his company and other involved parties are close to a solution.

Kennedy told the Sebastian County Quorum Court at Tuesday night’s meeting (April 17) that the pagers — all 332 of them — needed reprogramming since the county moved to a VHF simulcast system.

“Currently, about 85 percent of them have been reprogrammed. We know who has the rest of them, and have been trying to get in touch. This should be the last time we have to touch the pagers,” Kennedy said.

The VHF simulcast pager system, designed and implemented by DX, works to correct one major issue, which existed with the old system that served the county for 20 years (from 1991 to March 2011).

Prior to installation, if a tower went down, the fire departments that served at the tower would not receive emergency notifications.

“Under simulcast, every tower site receives notification, so if one site goes down, the other sites are still broadcasting the page,” Sebastian County Judge David Hudson explained.

But so far the idea of simulcast and the reality have been two different things. In March, SCFA President Gary Lawrence told court members the new paging system “had never worked right” since being implemented in April 2011.

Responding to the delay, Kennedy blamed “issues beyond ours (DCS) and the county’s control,” namely the need for tower space at Feather Hill in Lavaca when it was determined that the original space allotment at Mount Magazine would not provide adequate coverage.

While no completion date has been set at this time, Kennedy felt confident a resolution would come soon now that DX has representatives on site working to clear up any remaining issues.

“We (DCS) take our responsibility to the rural fire departments of Sebastian County very seriously and will continue to do whatever it takes to ensure they receive the service they expect and deserve,” Kennedy said.

In the meantime, the county has agreed to a $6,000-per-year E-Dispatch (Emergency Dispatch) system that will back up the $319,000 VHF simulcast.

Hudson added that the county would also implement Resource Management Software “to improve communication and record-keeping between the County Judge’s Administrative Office and the rural fire departments.”

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the quorum court voted to approve an emergency ordinance creating a Rural Waterworks Facilities Board to the Blackstone Ranch Property Owners Association in order to better facilitate operation of the Association’s wastewater treatment facility.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sebastian County Quorum Court will take place May 15.