By Roy Wood, Special to the Times Chronicle 

Osoyoos will seek a $30,000 provincial grant to buy four sophisticated walkie-talkies to allow better communication between firefighters and home base in a wide variety of settings.

In a report to the October 28 town council meeting, CAO Rod Risling explained the need for “dual-band VHF-UHF portable radios” for the Osoyoos volunteer fire department.

Some buildings that the department is committed to protecting are built in such a way and with such materials that fire crews using their current radios inside wouldn’t be able to communicate with “incident command” on the outside in the case of an emergency, like a fire.

“Places such as concrete underground parkades require a different radio band (UHF) to effectively communicate between the inside and the outside of the building,” the report said.

The department has experienced potentially unsafe situations because of members’ impaired ability to communicate with firefighters inside the building, said the report.

Radios with a dual-band frequency would resolve the radio wave blockage issue and bring the department into compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety regulations, which state: “Effective voice communication must be maintained between firefighters inside and outside the enclosed location.”

VHF (very-high frequency) radios use lower frequencies and are better suited for open areas and outdoors. UHF (ultra-high frequency) radios use higher frequencies and are better able to penetrate buildings and obstacles.

“The dual band radios would allow the fire responders to communicate in otherwise challenging radio communication areas,” the report said.

The grant for $29,723 will be submitted to the 2025 Community Emergency Preparedness Fund (CEPF) under the Volunteer and Composite Fire Departments Equipment and Training stream.

“The … CEPF is a suite of funding streams intended to support First Nations and local governments to better prepare for disasters and reduce risks from natural hazards in a changing climate,” said the report.

“Funding is provided by the Province of BC and is administered by the Union of BC Municipalities.”