Schumer Announces FEMA Aid for Local Fire Departments

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer revealed this week that he has secured more $650,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide 71 Nassau County fire departments and Volunteer Ambulance Corps (VAC) with updated radio equipment in order to meet a looming federal radio mandate.

The mandate, set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013, requires that all emergency communications equipment operate on a new frequency that current communications equipment does not support.

"This is a huge victory for Nassau fire departments that were set to get socked with huge fees to meet this federal mandate," Schumer said in a release. "Now, help is on the way – FEMA has agreed to pick up the tab, and Nassau taxpayers are spared the cost."

The grant, however, has an indirect affect on the Garden City Fire Department, according to 2nd assistant chief Joe Nadolny. "The Garden City Fire Department is not receiving any monies from this grant; as the purpose of the grant is to allow the volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps who run ambulances to get the necessary radio communication equipment to communicate with Medical Control."

Chief Charles Cavarra said the purpose of the mandate is to have all EMS agencies communicating together through a unified radio frequency. "It doesn't affect us or cost us anything," he said, adding that ambulances providing mutual aid to Garden City from Nassau County, Mineola and/or Stewart Manor will be using the new frequency.

"As the department has mutual aid agreements with our neighboring departments; in the event a neighboring department is called in on mutual aid response, the department would receive a benefit of that unit being able to contact Nassau County medical control," Nadolny added.

The Nassau County Police Department (NCPD), which operates the Emergency Ambulance Bureau through local fire departments and ambulance corps, had applied for the funding to meet the mandate. If they had not received it, the costs would have been passed on to what Schumer described as the already "over-burdened" fire departments – and then on to Nassau County taxpayers.

Schumer, in a press conference in Nassau County in January, and in a personal call to FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, had urged the agency to support Nassau's application for the funding. The senator said that Monday's announcement was a huge victory for those who risk their lives to protect the county's residents.

As of Jan. 1, 2013, the FCC will require that all emergency communications operate on a narrow-band frequency at 12.5 kHz efficiency. Currently, all medical communications between NCPD's Medical Control, the local fire departments and VAC's is conducted over a UHF frequency. According to Schumer, this antiquated system is plagued with static, interference and compatibility issues.

After Jan. 1, 2013, anyone not operating at the new frequency could be subject to fines.