When a wind-blown wildfire broke out in rural Lancaster County in October, dozens of volunteer firefighters from the region rushed to the scene.
Flames raced across farm fields, consuming outbuildings and rural homes in its path, and blackening a state wildlife area.
But there was a problem: Several of the volunteer fire departments that responded carried older radios that can’t connect with a Statewide Radio System established by the state in 2010.
More than two decades later, only 27 of the state’s 429 rural fire departments and ambulance services have radios capable of accessing the so-called SRS, forcing them to relay messages from one county dispatch center to another and then on to firefighters, or resort to cell phones.
Volunteers say it prevents immediate response to accident scenes.