Published: October 08, 2009 07:32 am      

New emergency radios headed this way

New emergency radios are on the way.

The Emergency Management Office in Woodward County is waiting for the arrival of 219 FM radios that are compatible with state of the art technology and are used for transmitting emergency messages.

The radios will be distributed to volunteer and full-time fire fighters and law enforcement officers in Woodward County.

City and County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer said full- and part-time Woodward County EMS employees will also receive radios.

“The purpose of the radios is to get emergency messages to these folks,” when necessary, Lehenbauer said. “It’s like text messaging on a cell phone, except (the message) goes to a radio instead. An alarm will go off, notifying the recipient that the message is being transmitted.”

The messages are activated with a computer terminal, he said.

This method of communicating is helpful in bad weather.

For example, if a tornado hit and power was knocked out, messages would be sent over the FM radio waves, because FM radio stations have back up power generators used for transmission, Lehenbauer said.

“If cell phones and pagers didn’t work, the radios would,” he said. “And if there was a national disaster, such as a terrorist attack, those alerts would be automatic. We wouldn’t have to touch anything.”

“This is new technology,” he said.

Currently, “the only other site to have this (in Western Oklahoma) is Enid,” he said, noting soon all of Western Oklahoma should have it.

The radios are being paid for with a $21,900 grant through the federal department of Homeland Security in conjunction with the National Weather Service, Lehenbauer said.

“We should have them in two or three months,” he said.

After the radios arrive and are distributed to the first responders in Woodward County, Lehenbauer said he will approach Mooreland schools to see if students and parents want to sign onto the alert system and receive radios.

“If it’s successful, we’ll offer them to other school districts in the county,” he said. “It’s all paid for by the federal government through grants.”

Woodward Schools already have similar emergency radios.

When it is set up throughout Western Oklahoma, “anyone down the chain will be capable of being alerted,” he said. “That’s another huge benefit. We’ll be able to access systems for help in other counties if we need it.”