Putnam County firefighters said radios not working and it's putting people in danger

Fire fighters in Melrose are pleading for help after they said their radios have not been working properly.

Due to the communication barrier they’re concerned it could cause a safety issue for them or the citizens they’re trying to help.

Having the proper line of communication for first responders is critical to them fulfilling their job description.

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One firefighter who wanted to remain anonymous said having that communication threatened puts everyone in danger.

“If I show up on scene, someone starts shooting at me, I can’t let them know what’s going on and I’m on my own at that point,” he said.

His station in Putnam County is one that has been experiencing issues with communicating through their radios.

Documents showed last week that fire officials changed frequencies for firefighters to help combat the issue, but those on the west side of the county said it made things worse.

Yesterday a firefighter in Melrose sent an email that read in part: "The radio system as it stands will cause the death or severe injury of a Firefighter, EMS, or deputy. It is impossible to contact fire control in the west end reliably on central ops which does not have the range to serve us."

After receiving the message, Fire rescue chief Quin Romay said they’re working to fix the problem.

“We certainly are aware and we’re going to take all the steps necessary to rectify the situation,” Romay said.

There are six towers throughout the county that transmit communications but they haven’t been updated since 2005.

The tower in the west end of the county is close to where the complaints are coming from is in a rural area, officials said that could be part of the problem.

“We share the same concern because obviously communication for everybody is key and that’s why we have the right folks out there looking to see what needs to be done,” Romay said.

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And firefighters in that area are pleading for it to be fixed soon.

“For us that’s a concern because if we get on scene and we need more resources for whatever reason, we're unable to contact fire control. It’s understandable it’s an expensive cost to update the systems but we got to do something. It’s putting people’s lives at risk in my opinion."

Friday engineers were out looking into the towers.

They said it was not causing the communication issue.

However, they are still working to figure out what is.

Cox Media Group