The Chillicothe Department of Emergency Services has been awarded grant funds to buy equipment which will become necessary when radio frequencies go digital in 2013. This last round of grants — which is Chillicothe’s third — will fully prepare the local fire department and ambulance service with appropriate communication equipment, according to Darrell Wright, director of emergency services.

Wright likened the transition of emergency transmission to the digital transition which TV stations will be going through later this month. Without new digital capable radios, traditional modes of communications among firefighters and ambulance workers would be impossible. The funds awarded will be used to buy a base radio, two radio consoles and one mobile radio. The mobile unit will go into the CDES command trailer and the radio consoles will be placed upstairs and downstairs at the fire station.

These funds are part of a state homeland security grant program to provide new equipment purchases, training and other security assets and was coordinated through the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission.