Reading’s new radio has been in storage for more than a year, but the new emergency system has finally been launched

​(Source: newstimes.com）

In 2018, members of the West Redding Fire Department scattered sand from a flatbed truck on Highway 7 on the Ridgefield-Redding town line to contain diesel fuel. The new emergency communication system will be launched soon, enabling Reading emergency personnel to communicate better.

A few years ago, when officials realized that their current system was outdated and obstructed communication between emergency response personnel departments, Reading began years of multi-million dollar improvements. Must think of a way to take good emergency communications

Fire Commissioner Bennett Pardee said that we "can't afford and cannot repair them" and said that "this puts us in a real dilemma." He added: "We got the last 1.5 points from the old stuff, now is the time."

The project could have been completed earlier, but the coronavirus pandemic slowed the town’s ability to make the necessary infrastructure changes to accommodate the equipment, which allowed the radio to stay in the storage box for more than a year. And now the new communication system is about to go online

Most of the infrastructure has been installed, but the town is waiting for Frontier Communications to complete the installation of fiber optic cables at the Reading transfer station, which will put the new system into operation. "We are ready to train our members and transition. Our work is almost complete," Pardee said.

First Selectwoman Julia Pemberton said this is a "must do in town" because the bandwidth of the emergency room is different. The project is in the range of $2.5 million, although she does not know the exact cost. But emergency personnel must be able to restore better communications as soon as possible.