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WARREN — Late last year, the Warren City Council approved $1.1 million for the Warren Fire Department to replace its “obsolete” radios.
City Council members voted unanimously, 7-0, for the purchase at their last meeting of 2024. According to Warren Fire Commissioner Wilburt “Skip” McAdams, the department will purchase a total of 132 APX 870 radios, 10 dual-band APX radios and five bay stations radios.
The money for the radios will come from the Fire Department’s 2024-2025 fiscal year budget.
There are a few reasons the radios need replacing.
“They are functionally obsolete and will not work on the upgraded networks. The radios are no longer supported by Motorola,” McAdams said.
In addition, according to the commissioner, the county wants large entities such as the Warren Fire Department to move to a network that will free up the county’s bandwidth, therefore doubling the county’s capacity and the bandwidth that is available for other users.
“This is a major county project. We are the largest (city) in Macomb County,” McAdams said. “We were encouraged to move forward now.”
In the past few years, the Fire Department has purchased other “Phase 2-compliant” radios that do not need to be replaced and can be upgraded and used on the network, the commissioner said. But radios still need to be purchased every year.
“We replace radios every fiscal year that are damaged from dropping. Even though they (the radios) are water resistant, they can’t swim,” McAdams said. “And they are anchors when they fall in deep water.”
Technology advancements are moving at a high speed and while it may be hopeful not to have to replace radios for many years, that may not be the reality. Even though the radios have over-the-air upgrades by Motorola and backwards compatibility, that may not result in longevity of the product.
“Backward compatibility is a money saver and time saver, but we should never rely on that because by the time and the way these radios are used, their end of life is before Motorola says they are at end of life,” Councilman Jonathan Lafferty said.
