The West College Corner Fire Department serves four counties and two states. In Indiana, they serve parts of Union and Franklin counties, and Butler and Preble (Ohio) areas as well. Keeping up with the changing world in a way that serves all their areas takes true vigilance…and it isn’t cheap. WCCFD still uses radios they received as part of a Butler County (OH) grant in 2003. This isn’t unusual–volunteer departments like this are accustomed to making outdated equipment last as long as possible. Nevertheless, after twenty years, these radios are soon to be obsolete. Butler County (OH), who handles dispatch, will be upgrading to a new radio system through the Ohio Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS), a state-wide trunked radio system serving state and local agencies. Towers have already been installed, and by March of 2025 the department's portable and truck radios will be unable to patch into the new system. Chief Don Jackson estimates these purchases will be over $100,000, a cost his department must absorb. Jackson attended the Village of College Corner’s town council meeting last week making the rounds to lay out his plans. If he spreads out the installation and upgrading over the next three years, he says all the portables can be upgraded in time. Jackson asked for $10K over three years from VCC, as well as the other entities with whom the department contracts, to help defray the costs without raising contract prices. He hopes to begin this spring, and expressed the importance of this upgrade. “Radios are right up there beneath trucks, in terms of equipment needs,” Chief Jackson said. “We’ll get it done.”
