Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
The North County Fire Protection District (NCFPD) has approved a loan agreement with Motorola Solutions for the purchase of new radios.
A 3-0 NCFPD board vote Oct. 25, with Kathleen Thuner and Ruth Harris absent, approved the agreement in which the fire district will pay $579,815 over a five-year period for 50 mobile radios and 71 portables, including spare batteries and accessories. The purchase price also includes sales tax.
"We're excited to get on board with the new radios," said NCFPD fire chief Steve Abbott.
The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials developed a program called Project 25 to ensure that mobile and portable radio systems used by different agencies can communicate with each other. The radios the fire district will be receiving meet Project 25 standards, which will enable NCFPD staff to use the radios as part of the Regional Communications System, which is being upgraded.
When the Fallbrook Fire Protection District merged with the county service area which provided fire protection for Rainbow, the Rainbow Volunteer Fire Department maintained its autonomy. The North County Fire District handles administrative matters for the volunteer fire department and has a separate budget for Rainbow.
A subtotal of $481,549.12 (including sales tax) will replace 44 NCFPD mobile radios and 57 fire district portables, including spare batteries and accessories, while $98,265.92 will cover the cost of replacing six mobile radios and 14 portables for the Rainbow firefighters and paramedics.
The loan includes no interest charges for the first two years.
"We're fortunate that Motorola is offering a two-year interest-free option," said Abbott. "That's a very useful benefit."
The overall replacement project includes the purchase of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) interface lapel microphones which will allow the new radios to be used with the fire district's current SCBA equipment. That item is not included in the loan, although the microphones will be purchased with revenue budgeted for the radio replacement project.
The new radios will replace a fleet the fire district has had for more than 15 years.
"They'll be in service by the end of the year," said Abbott.
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