Town and MD Approve New First Responder Radios

BAFA to upgrade to AFRRC System

The Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BAFA) has received approval from both the Town of Bonnyville and the Municipal District (MD) of Bonnyville to purchase new radio equipment for station 5 (Bonnyville Fire House). The purchase will upgrade BAFA to the Alberta First Responders Radio Communications (AFFRC) System, with a cost of $86,125.35 to the Town and $450,000 to the MD.

The radios are a necessary change out for BAFA, for a few reasons; 1. the current equipment is very dated. Due to ever-changing technologies, upgrades are obsolete. 2. the Province is encouraging all first responders to change over to the system by covering the cost of installing the infrastructure. 3. the systems have the ability to link in any first reponders from any department, making cross-effort communications much similar (for example, Fort McMurray fire efforts used the system).

BAFA Fire Chief, Brian McEvoy, says AFRRC has great coverage, “we tested [AFRRC] and it has given us coverage of about 98 percent throughout the MD. Which is a very significant improvement to what we currently have.”

The purchase is part of a scheduled equipment upgrade, that both municipalities were aware of. When speaking with the Town of Bonnyville at Tuesday’s Council Meeting, McEvoy explains their cost, just over $86,000 was for their cost directly related to the town. “The total project cost is split between the Town and MD,” explains the Fire Chief.

The first purchase necessary for the change over is for the hardware necessary to replace handheld, mobile and base radios for BRFA’s station 5 in Bonnyville; as well as, a percentage of BAFA administration and dispatch centre upgrades. These upgrades are covered under the Town’s budget.

After the tendering process, BAFA presented Council with three bids, with a local company, Telephone Connections, in Bonnyville, presenting the lowest bid on the equipment related to the Town $86,125.35.

MD Council approved the purchase of AFRRC to a maximum of $450,000. This will cover the balance of BAFA administration and dispatch; as well as, the MD Fire Services. The cost will come out of and has been approved in the MD’s 2017 Capital Budget.