BELLE — The Belle and Vienna Fire Protection Districts have been awarded a federal grant of $287,000 from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase new radios through a fiscal year 2024 Assistance to Firefighters Grant.

The grant will include participation from fire protection districts in the area including Owensville, Vienna and the Gerald-Rosebud district.

“This grant is a regional grant that will benefit the Owensville Fire Department, Belle Fire Protection District, Gerald-Rosebud Fire Protection District and Vienna Fire Protection District,” according to Owensville Fire Chief Jeff Arnold. “This grant has been two years in the making but the hard work by each department has paid off.”

Federal funds from DHS will be used to purchase much needed P25 compliant portable radios for each department, according to Arnold and each of the four departments will be responsible for paying for a portion of the matching grant amount of $37,000 based on the number of radios they are scheduled to order.

Belle is expected to order 21 radios and the Vienna district is ordering 20 units. The Owensville Fire Protection District is scheduled to receive 35 radios. The Gerald-Rosebud Fire Protection District is expected to order 32 radios. Competitive bids will be sought for the radios which are multi-band units capable of statewide communications with other law enforcement and fire agencies. Once bids are received, Owensville Fire Chief Jeff Arnold said he and the chiefs from the other three fire protection districts are expected to review the quotes and reach a consensus on awarding the contract to the best possible vendor. The winning award will be for identical radio units from one vendor.

Cost estimate for the radios is in the range of $7,000 per unit.

Arnold said the number of radios being ordered will equip each piece of fire apparatus from each fire district with a radio for each crew member seat available on each truck.