After years of airing concerns about the quality of the county’s emergency radio communications and spending about $60,000 to upgrade the system, the Orangeburg County Fire Commission announced Monday that the system is operational.

“This represents a major change in the way things are done in our county, especially in our fire district,” Orangeburg County Fire System Coordinator Gene Ball said. “It will be a great benefit to all people throughout our fire departments and the county.”

The county’s radios have operated on a one-channel system that receives and dispatches radio communications. The new system adds about six more channels to improve radio communications.

Radio communication between departments is often crucial in notifying firefighters about fires and coordinating a response.

The new system will allow departments to narrow communication capabilities with select departments or regions, as well as expand communication capabilities as desired. The system will have an emergency tone system for weather warnings and other wide-scale events.

“By it being a repeater system, it will help prevent people from talking over somebody else,” Ball said. “With the repeater system, we will now be able to hear the mutual aid departments and what is going on at scene before we get there.”

The project required the reprogramming of about 400 radios and the purchase of about 110 radios. About 80 radios were purchased with federal grant funds for an estimated savings of about $48,000.

The project required an upgrade of three transmitter towers located in Vance, Neeses and at the Orangeburg County Law Enforcement Complex on Ellis Avenue. The towers will use three different frequencies to prevent communication overlap. The upgrades cost approximately $32,000, including the purchase of seven new receiver sites throughout the county.

Annual maintenance costs and leasing of the circuits will be about $20,000.

The tower upgrade was funded through the county’s Emergency Services Department and was not a part of the Fire Commission budget, said Ball.

“It has been an experience to go through some of the loops,” Ball said, with a slight laugh.

Ball said vehicles identified as “secondary” or infrequent responders to fires are the only ones still remaining for radio replacement.

Fire Advisory Board Chairman Jim Logan expressed his relief that the radio upgrade has “finally” come to fruition.

“We finally have a repeater system countywide,” Logan said. “We have needed one for a long time.”

Ball praised and thanked the various departments that applied grant monies toward radio purchases. Ball said the grants have helped reduce the cost of the system for the county.

In related matters, the commission adopted two emergency response agreements during their Monday meeting.

The agreements allow Orangeburg County Fire District departments to provide mutual aid and fire personnel to other South Carolina counties in the event of “a major disaster,” if they are able, Ball said. Examples include events such as the Graniteville train crash last year and an Horry County forest fire a few years ago, Ball said.

Participation in the mutual aid program gives the district a better chance of receiving federal firefighting grants and reimbursement for response in the future, Ball said. The state’s Homeland Security Department oversees the program.

In other matters, Ball informed commissioners the town of Norway has requested the commission give them the old Norway fire station property.

The consensus among commissioners is the property should be sold because it was purchased with $40,000 in fire tax funds. The old Norway fire station is deemed inefficient for handling future fire needs.

“We maintain that the money that has been collected for fire purposes should go for fire purposes,” Ball said. “If we are going to sell the piece of property, it should be put back into fire service protection. It will be difficult to for us to just sign the property over.”

Should the property not be sold, Ball said there are some “options” available, one being a property exchange with the county for a future fire department location.

Negotiations are still in the contractual phase.

In other business:

n Ball announced Neeses and Springfield are scheduled to have a mandatory Insurance Service Office inspection “in a month or two.” Traditionally, fire departments request an ISO inspection, but the two departments are being inspected because they haven’t had one in so long.

Currently, Springfield is a Class 8 and Neeses is a Class 7.

The lower the ISO rating, the lower the homeowners insurance premiums for residents in the vicinity of the department.

n Ball said three bids have been submitted for district-wide firefighter physicals. Bids are due back by Feb. 15.

n Logan requested the commission consider a pumper replacement program where about two or three pumpers would be purchased on an annual basis.

The commission took the request under advisement.

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