Schuylkill County commissioners will spend $5.06 million to buy digital radio equipment for every volunteer company in the county.

Commissioners approved the purchase on Christmas Eve, their last public meeting until 10 a.m. Jan. 5, when they will reorganize."The more than 100 fire companies in the counties are very grateful. This kind of support is wonderful. It's awesome," West Penn Township Fire Chief Clint Schock said in a telephone interview Wednesday.The money, which will come from the county's general fund, will buy 1,140 portable and mobile radios and other communications equipment. It will also buy equipment to supplement those police departments and emergency medical services that bought digital radios as the county complies with the federal mandate to switch from analog to digital communications equipment."This is the best Christmas present our fire chiefs and our volunteer firefighters could get," said Frank Zangari, president of the Schuylkill County Fire Chiefs Association. "This surprise, held until Christmas, is absolutely remarkable. I think every fire company will gain communications and safety for their firefighters."County 911 director Scott Krater said the number of radios that will be given to each of the county's 110 fire companies next year was decided by using a formula that included the numbers of engines and tankers, and the number of seats in the vehicles."If it's an eight-man cab, they'll get a mobile radio and four portables," he said."From a dispatcher's standpoint, rather than having three disparate tiers of radio system, we're all going to be on one platform. That's critical. On the rollout of this (switch to digital) we had some that were on, and some that were off," he said."This is the first time in the Schuylkill County fire service that we're moving together as a whole," Zangari said. "Every fire company will be affected. This is an opportunity not only for us to be able to communicate with our 911 center, but to communicate with each and every fire department. Everybody's going to be on the same page."When they adopted the 2015 budget, with no tax increase, on Dec. 17, commissioners said the county was in austerity mode in order to keep costs down.On Wednesday, Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. said the county planned to offset the cost of the radio purchase by leasing out its unused radio frequencies.The equipment is through a seven-year lease/purchase plan with Motorola, at a substantial savings. The deal was negotiated by consultant Essential Management.The first payment isn't due until 2017, he said."What is the cost of one life? It's priceless," Halcovage said."If we're able to save someone's home, if we are able to save someone's life, that's worth its weight in gold.""When we did this, we looked at the full structure of the program to see that it was financially sound. We also have a long-range financial plan. We made a decision not to put a Band Aid on the problem, but to fix the problem," he said. "Sometimes we have to make tough decisions. We have to look long-term, at how its going to affect the county in the future.""This affects every citizen of the county. Now we will have full communication within our county," he said.Halcovage said the purchase would ease the financial burden on municipalities that help fund fire companies, and on the firefighters and auxiliaries, which hold frequent fundraisers to pay for equipment."There are only so many pierogies and bleenies firefighters can make," he said."It's about $100,000 for each company," said Dave Sattizahn, president of the county's Volunteer Firefighters Association."That's a lot of chicken dinners," said Thomas Slane Sr., chairman of the Firefighters Association's financial advisory board."Public safety remains a constant. This is something we looked at when we upgraded the system so the cost wouldn't come down on the backs of the firefighters," said Commissioner Gary Hess.It's the least the county can do, said Commissioners' Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier."Schuylkill County is very fortunate to have outstanding volunteer firefighters. The commissioners felt that it was incumbent upon us to make sure that they have the tools and technology to to do their jobs," he said.