FIRE OPERATIONS

Millville's police and fire radio needed a better home: a purpose-built tower and shelter with reliable backhaul to the regional dispatch network. The best location was on school grounds, next to an operating elementary school.

That raised hard requirements. The design had to fit the school's electrical service, keep crews and heavy equipment safe around students and staff, meet State 911 grant rules, and move two live public safety systems with no loss of service.

Northampton needed one dependable radio network that every department could share. Fire still ran on VHF, and other departments used separate equipment.

The city also needed someone to own the project from start to finish. That meant writing the requirements, running a compliant purchase, holding the vendor to the specification, and then keeping the system healthy after the warranty ended.

Auburn Fire & Rescue needed stronger VHF coverage across town, a dispatch center that could support it, and a clear path to P25 digital radio. Its radio fleet mixed VHF, UHF and multiband equipment of different ages, and it had no long-term replacement plan.

The department also needed one partner to run a multi-year program. That meant buying through compliant procurement, coordinating several vendors, and keeping radios and infrastructure maintained between projects.

While the new headquarters was being built, Lexington Police dispatched from a temporary station, with their antennas on the roof of Cary Hall. Every radio, 911 and alarm system had to move into the new building with no gap in coverage.

Many parties had to stay in step: the construction team, Town Facilities and IT, the State 911 Department, Motorola, and several radio, antenna and fire alarm contractors. The Town needed one technical lead to tie their work together.

Charlton needed reliable town-wide VHF coverage for Police, Fire and Highway, with dispatch that would keep working if one link failed. The Town also needed a path to digital P25 and a way to see problems at its radio sites before users noticed them.

This was a small town without a radio engineer on staff. It needed an independent advocate to write the specification, keep several vendors coordinated, and manage the system once it was live.

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Paxton chose to move its local dispatch to Wachusett RECC. Dispatchers in Holden would now handle Paxton's radio, phones and CAD from another town. Paxton's police and fire still needed the same coverage, alarms and building awareness they had with local dispatch.

That meant connecting systems across town lines. Paxton's radio sites, building cameras, phone lines and CAD records all had to reach the RECC reliably, and both towns needed a clear line between what Paxton owns and what the RECC runs.