AUGUSTA — Many Augusta residents have expressed concerns and fears following the failure of their repeater last year. Now, there is a new system in place that allows emergency crews to get in contact with dispatch in Helena, but it's something the volunteer ambulance and fire department here says isn't ideal.
“I think we do the best we can with what we have,” Charles Taylor, an EMT with Augusta Volunteer Ambulance, expressed.
Jason Mosher, the Augusta Volunteer Fire Department chief, noted, “The biggest thing is our safety.”
(WATCH: Augusta faces emergency communication challenges)
Augusta never had a repeater until about a decade ago, and it worked as part of a complex system that was installed in the early 2000s. A piece of the equipment, called a multiplexer, which acts like an electronic traffic controller, is what went out last fall.
“So it is not working, so we have to repair or find it, it is old, old equipment that doesn’t work,” Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said.
Additionally, the handheld radios were programmed incorrectly. Because of these issues, the sheriff’s office went out and reprogrammed things a couple of weeks ago.
Dutton noted, “We have renamed things properly; they can talk on the trunked system anywhere.”
Augusta has a digital trunked system near Sullivan Butte, which is what is now being used and has no cost to the community. The site has been there for about two decades, and the county was granted permission to install equipment there 8 years ago. The statewide radio system paid for the trunking equipment and the sheriff’s office radio technician installed the programming.
What a trunked system does is provide a two-way communication network that automatically shares a pool of radio frequencies among multiple groups in the area.
Although emergency crews say it’s a good temporary fix, it has issues.
Mosher shared, “It works, but there are dead spots that the repeater would have covered or would cover, that this new system does not.”
If the repeater that went out were to be replaced or repaired, it would cost an estimated $2 million.
Although expensive, it is a cost Augusta emergency crews believe is worth looking into. This could be through grants or funds approved by the county commission.
“It just didn’t feel like we were being heard, and we started getting a little bit louder, and I believe we are being heard now.”
More reliable forms of communication are something Augusta volunteer fire and ambulance say they will continue to advocate for.
Both volunteer groups mainly rely on donations, and an opportunity to support is coming on July 4th at the annual Augusta Fourth of July Picnic.
