The Maine Fire Chiefs’ Association began planning the implementation of the two Assistance to Firefighters Grants awarded for regional interoperable communications.

Two $800,000 grants were awarded to two fire departments in Maine. The grants are from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant program for the Regional Interoperable Communications Initiative, launched by MFCA and the National Association of State Fire Marshals. Through these two grants, communities in Maine will receive equipment to improve communications and incident command capabilities.

The equipment selected for this initiative is BAE Systems’ First InterComm system. This solution is an incident-area network gateway that provides interoperable communications by creating an ad-hoc mesh network at the incident scene to link emergency responder radios on different frequencies. The pilot project for this initiative deployed several units around the Rumford, Maine area. John C. Woulfe III, past president of the Maine Fire Chiefs’ Association and current chief of the Rumford Fire Department, said, “The RICI initiative funded through these grants provided the resources to make significant improvements in our communications capabilities. With the new capabilities we will also improve firefighter and citizen life safety in communities throughout the state of Maine.”

The MFCA, NASFM, and BAE Systems engineers convened to discuss how to most effectively implement the project using the grant money. Implementation will be based on the revised mutual-aid plan and specific fire service needs throughout the state. The project will use all existing equipment and infrastructure while maintaining current standard operating procedures for communications. A task force within MFCA has been established to manage planning and coordination throughout the implementation process.