T IMES
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 30, No 14
APRIL 4 - 10, 2018
3
3
ONE DOLLAR
City to observe
50th anniversary Baseball
preview
Page 2 Page 35
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
State grant boosts NFD
Newburgh Fire Department to overhaul radio systems
School
district
proposes
$3.56M
security
system
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
Senator Bill Larkin announces $250,000 in state funding for a new radio system for City of Newburgh firefighters on Tuesday.
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
State Senator Bill Larkin Jr. came
to the City of Newburgh to announce
$250,000 in state funding for the City of
Newburgh Fire Department on Tuesday.
The money will pay for a complete
overhaul of the fire department’s radio
communication system.
“If you don’t have the equipment in
order for you to do your job, that’s a
sad state of affairs,” said Larkin at the
City of Newburgh Fire Department that
morning.
Larkin received a letter from acting
city Fire Chief Terry Ahlers in January
explaining the danger posed by the
department’s outdated radio equipment.
“This is something we’ve been hobbled
with for a while,” Ahlers said.
The department’s current radio
system operates on a VHF, or very-high
frequency bandwidth, most often used
with older communications systems.
According to Senator Larkin’s Office,
this bandwidth does not work in large
buildings at Mount Saint Mary College,
SUNY Orange, St. Luke’s Cornwall
Hospital, various school buildings and
certain high-rise buildings in the city.
Moreover, Orange County emergency
services work with radio equipment
using UHF, the ultra-high frequency
Continued on page 4
WWW.MIDHUDSONTIMES.COM
Schools may be seeing major
improvements to security systems within
the Newburgh Enlarged City School
District under a proposed $3.6 million
plan following a series of deadly school
shootings.
Part of the district’s Smart Schools
Investment Plan, the high-tech security
blueprint was presented at a Newburgh
Board of Education meeting on March
20. The plan details new security features
such as surveillance cameras, alarms,
card readers, intercoms, door locks,
entryway security, wireless technology
and communications systems. “We want
everything to tie in together,” said district
Systems Engineer Marc Bilyou. “We want
Continued on page 4