DENVER – Colorado’s poor emergency radio system would be in for long-overdue repairs under a bill Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, introduced Friday.
Fire chiefs have told Roberts and other legislators that their No. 1 priority is to upgrade the state’s Digital Trunk Radio System. The system is designed to let first responders from all different agencies – local, state and federal – communicate during a crisis.
Colorado started building the system through Homeland Security grants after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the grants dried up, and the system remains unworkable in many parts of the state. Many fire bosses have to carry two or three radios to relay messages between federal and state forces.
Fixing it will be expensive and will take years. Area fire chiefs have told Roberts that Southwest Colorado alone needs up to seven new transmission towers, at a cost of $10 million each.
Even with an improving economy, the state does not have the money to fix the whole system this year or anytime soon.
But Roberts’ bill requires the state Department of Public Safety to come up with a business plan for upgrading the radio system by the end of the year. It also creates a new advisory committee to oversee the system, with representatives from public safety agencies around the state.
“This is asking (advice from) the people on the ground, the ones who have been so frustrated and clamoring for a new approach,” Roberts said.
Later this year, Roberts expects the budget committee to talk about funding the radio system.
Roberts’ bill has not yet been assigned a number or a committee, but that should happen early next week.
She revealed the bill during a Republican news conference on wildfire bills Friday – the second time in two days that legislators called a news conference on the topic.
Roberts said the state owes more to its first responders.
“Is Colorado doing enough to protect them when they’re out there protecting us? I would say not,” she said.
The GOP’s marquee bill is a second attempt by Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, to get the state to buy its own aerial firefighting fleet.
King proposed the idea last year, and the Legislature required the state to study whether it’s a good idea. That report is due by the end of March.
But King isn’t waiting. His bill, to be introduced Monday, would require the state to lease three Type 1 helicopters this year, and obtain four surplus C-130 military aircraft, which it would retrofit and contract with a private company to operate. The state could lease the planes to other states to recoup some of the money, King said.
“I believe this is a very cost-effective way to have an air fleet in Colorado,” he said.
Gov. John Hickenlooper, remains skeptical of the idea, but he hasn’t slammed the door on it.
At a Thursday news conference, Hickenlooper said the federal government is not able to say whether its air fleet provides firefighting benefits that outweigh the costs.
Even so, Hickenlooper said his administration is working with other states on whether to cooperate on buying new planes. His staff also has talked to FedEx, but that probably won’t work, he said.
“We are still actively looking,” Hickenlooper said.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
