Monsey Fire Department to Upgrade SCBA and Radio Communications

by M.C. Millman 

The Board of Commissioners of the Monsey Fire Department approved the replacement and upgrade of the department's Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), as well as a first round of funding for ugraded radio communications.

SCBA includes the face shield, air tank, air cylinder, harness for air tanks, pressure gauge, and sensor. The sensor beeps if the air pressure is low or if a firefighter doesn't move for a certain amount of time. The sets are being replaced over the next year for a total cost of more than $700,000.

In addition to the SCBA replacements, the Monsey Fire Department's radio communications will also be upgraded. 

"In the volunteer fire service here in New York," a representative of the Monsey Fire District offers an explanation to Rockland Daily readers, "only officers - and in some places the drivers of fire trucks - have radios to notify the county fire control that they are covering a call, and those transmissions are very limited. For example, broadcasting "7-5 responding" (as in Department 7, which is Monsey) helps the country know a call is covered and the time it was covered. Still, no broad set of information is transmitted between members such as who has a truck, who is going and who is coming... So to further improve Monsey Firefighter's  effective response, we are implementing an inner department radio system, which will be integrated with the county fire communication system to better coordinate our response."