Franklin Township will apply for a grant for emergency service radios for its fire and police departments.

Supervisors unanimously agreed last week to have township fire Chief Lynn Diehl apply for the 2025 Local Share Account Monroe County Grant to purchase new digital radios to benefit both departments.

This is a combination of handheld portables for the police department, and truck mounted mobiles for the fire department.

The LSA Monroe County Grant would be for $168,736 from Commonwealth Financing Authority to be used for digital radios.

Supervisors also at that time adopted a resolution to that effect.

In March, supervisors unanimously approved Diehl’s request to apply for the 2025 LSA Monroe County Grant.

Carbon County is in the process of switching emergency responder radio frequencies from analog to digital to help enhance communications, chiefly across county lines.

In May, Carbon County was awarded just under half of what it applied for to help complete the radio upgrade project for first responders.

The county will receive $465,000 from the LSA through the Commonwealth Finance Authority for the purchase of radios for the 16 law enforcement agencies in the county.

The reason for the need to upgrade radios is because Carbon County is moving all emergency services to a digital system, just as Schuylkill County operates on, which will allow for better communications between the two counties when responding to emergency calls across county lines.