Plans to equip Western Australian emergency services with powerful new communications systems have been announced by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).
According to the Department, community safety will be strengthened and first responders better protected under the State-wide plan to build a secure emergency services radio network at a cost of $60 million for part one of the multi-stage project
Premier, Mark McGowan said the State’s frontline responders take enormous risks on behalf of the community so the public must do its best to return the favour and make sure they are protected.
“With our summers getting hotter; we know there is an increased risk of fire,” Mr McGowan said.
“We have to be more efficient in dealing with that and part of it means ensuring that our agencies can talk to each other. This measure is designed to ensure that responses to crises and emergencies are swift and seamless.”
The Premier said frontline public service agencies like Police, Fire and Emergency Services, and Prison Officers already used radio networks in their life-saving duties but unfortunately there was no capacity for police to communicate over the same channels as fire fighters and other emergency responders.
Mr McGowan said the first phase of the project would enable the replacement of more than 11,000 end-of-life and outdated radio devices used by WA Police, Fire and Emergency Services and Justice.
He said it was anticipated that once the project was complete it would create a new network which could be used by the Police, DFES, the Department of Justice and other frontline agencies.
He said it would allow critical communications to be shared across agencies during emergencies, significantly enhancing the safety of first responders working on the frontline to protect our community.
The Premier said tenders for the systems would be invited early next year.
