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The Paulding County Fire Departments with the Paulding County Emergency Management Agency recently announced receiving a grant from the Ohio State Fire Marshall for new MARCS radios (Multi-Agency Radio Communication System).
The MARCS radios enable the counties to talk directly to the state or to anywhere else in the state either with shared groups or other means. This advanced system of communication is much stronger than the VHF bands and communication is much greater between the groups and can be programmed to communicate with other counties and departments nearby.
The grant request was written by EMA Director Ed Bohn with the help of the fire chiefs from the various townships and villages and it was submitted on November 13th.
The State Fire Marshal is Jeff Hussey and it came up on Thursday, March 1st to present the check to the county to be used for the new MARCS radio equipment. They were glad to receive the check and they asked Jeff about the advantages and integration of the 883.
Sheriff Landers spoke up that the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office was also getting new MARCS radios after it applied for grants and they 883 VHF will still be working for the foreseeable future alongside MARCS.
There is a $20 per year fee for each radio to county and local authorities. The state has supplemented the fees to bring the cost down to $10. This fee helps to manage and maintain the radios towers and maintenance that the counties cannot always afford. The grants should cover the fees each year so it will end up costing the emergency agencies nothing.
Hussey stated that Larry Flowers was the person who really pushed to make MARCS possible and centralize communications for emergency systems in Ohio.
The amount Hussey presented was $331,105.37. Antwerp received $47,260.20; Grover Hill, 45,160.24; Oakwood, $49,488.85; Paulding, 49,970.19; Payne, $49,924.64; Auglaize Twp., $41,498.04; Crane Twp.-Cecil Fire Dept, $43,603.21; Scott, $4200.00
