LINCOLN- As a wall of flames engulfed a Crete firefighter working a wildfire in Lancaster County in October 2022, other first responders had a problem — their radios. Some radios were outdated, some couldn’t communicate with a nearby firefighter and overloaded circuits blocked colleagues from summoning help for Brad Elder as the fire roared over him.

“We need help. We need help desperately,” Johnson told members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. He was among several volunteer firefighters who testified in support of a trio of bills that would provide more funding to purchase “interoperable” radios for the state’s volunteer first responders.

Right now, the state’s 449 volunteer fire and rescue department have a mixture of radios, old and new, with a mixture of ability to be “operable” with other departments, the State Patrol or other responders to multi-agency wildfires, accidents or floods. Those testifying told stories of seeing firefighters from other departments but being unable to communicate directly with them via radio because they were using different systems.

For the full article click HERE