FARMINGTON – December’s flooding and heavy snowfall showed that the town needed a better radio communication system between departments.

Farmington Emergency Management Director Terry Bell, also chief of the Fire Rescue Department, said about $15,000 of the $45,000 awarded to the town through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would be used to improve communications between the departments.

“We’ve realized the town doesn’t have a radio frequency that all departments can talk on,” Bell said. “We ought to have a common frequency that the town could communicate on.”

During December’s bad weather, Bell said, the Fire Rescue Department could not directly communicate with the highway department through the existing radio frequencies.

The sewer department needs new radios, the town office needs a new base and a new frequency needs to be established.

The Fire Rescue Department also needs new pagers, Bell said.

Use of the remaining $29,000-plus, Bell said, would be decided at a later date.

But there is some talk about buying a communications incident command vehicle – a sport utility type vehicle equipped with communication equipment – that could be used during hostage situations, hazardous waste incidents … by departments, he said.

The plan for use of the money is scheduled to go to the state for approval.

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