Firefighters arrived at a self-storage building on a recent hot morning to heavy smoke and fire. They used power saws to cut through doors. Water whooshed through the fire hoses. Engines rumbled into position.
Even with the noise, Battalion Chief Brian Sullivan’s handheld radio sounded crisp.
In the past, it would have been hard to understand firefighters when they requested more water and pressure on the hoses.
Over the past several months, the Fire Department and all city first-responders began using new radios that filter out background noise. The Motorola Solutions equipment has other technological features that the old models didn’t. Most are heat- and water-resistant; they feature built-in flashlights and can switch between two frequencies, allowing communication with marine-radio users.
With the old system, firefighters had to hold a microphone up to their masks.
“You kind of sounded like Darth Vader,” Sullivan said. “… You’d have to talk louder to be heard on the radio.”