On December 11th, 2023, the Vista Volunteer Fire Department officially placed into service a fleet of new fireground portable radios. The purchase of these radios was made possible by a New York State and Municipal Facilities grant, secured by Senator Harckham of the 40th District.

The Vista Volunteer Fire Department would like to express our sincere gratitude to Senator Harckham, and his staff, for their assistance in securing this funding, as well as for their advocacy for the safety of our first responders. Without this grant, funding the project would have posed an immense burden on taxpayers, and would have otherwise been impossible. We would also like to thank Assistant Chief Brian Porco for overseeing this project and working tirelessly to make sure we had the very best radio equipment for our members throughout this entire project!

A fleet of Motorola APX6000XE portable radios equipped with XE500 remote speaker microphones, carry cases, chargers, and spare batteries were placed into service last week, allowing first responders who enter immediately dangerous to life and health (“IDLH”) environments the ability to maintain clear communication with incident commanders and other units operating on scene.

These new radios boast multiple features making the job of communicating during an emergency significantly easier; larger controls for easier manipulation with gloved hands; extreme environment and extreme temperature features and construction engineered specifically for firefighting; redundant controls to help the first responder transmit messages even when the radio or its user are compromised; large top displays for easier viewing of the radio’s status; and emergency or “mayday” buttons to get the attention of incident commanders and other units on scene when a first responder finds themselves in an adverse or uniquely dangerous situation requiring immediate intervention.

The implementation of these radios marks a new era of communication and safety for Vista Volunteer Fire Department’s first responders. This new fleet replaces legacy fireground radios that have been end-of-life for nearly a decade. In their first 7 days deployed, the new fireground radios were used at two different structure fires in the area and over 17 other incidents since then.

The Vista Volunteer Fire Department is a Fire & EMS agency fully staffed by volunteers that is always looking for new members! For more info on how you can become a member call: (914)-533-2727, email us at Info@VistaFD.org, visit https://www.vistafd.org/content/become/ or apply online here: https://www.vistafd.org/apply