Sixteen of the 23 fire departments in Wood County are being awarded grant funding ranging from $1,680 to $47,970 per department, for a total of $627,523 for the 2017 State Fire Marshal’s MARCS Grant.
The grants will help fire departments to transition from a legacy VHF radio communication system to a state-of-the-art P-25 trunked 700MHz communication system called the Ohio Multi Agency Radio Communication System, according to the Wood County Emergency Management Agency.
The Wood County Fire and EMS Chiefs Association voted in November 2016 to being the process of transitioning over to Ohio MARCS as their primary radio communication system for those departments. By using the MARCS, Wood County fire departments will have seamless interoperable communications countywide with fire departments and with neighboring county fire departments as well as state agencies. This will increase firefighter safety and will allow fire departments to provide better service.
The following fire departments in Wood County received funding: Bloomdale, Cygnet, Grand Rapids, Hoytville, Milton Township, North Baltimore, Pemberville, Central Joint, Risingsun, Wayne, West Millgrove, Weston, Center Township, Middleton Township, Troy Township and Washington Township.
