Report : FES-18-003

Fire & Emergency Services
Telephone (905) 468-3266
Facsimile (905) 468-2959

1593 Four Mile Creek Road
P.O. Box 190
Virgil, Ontario
L0S 1T0

		Submitted on:	June 07, 2018
Report:	FES-18-003

Report To:	Fire & Emergency Services
Subject:	Fire Department Radio System

1. RECOMMENDATION

It is respectfully recommended

1.1 That Council endorse the continuation of the use of the current analog radio system as recommended as Option #1 in this report; and

1.2 That Council support the continuation of capital project C01260 for the analog radio system upgrades as recommended in this report with an increase in Capital funding of $33,000, to be funded from the sale of the old Virgil Fire Station, for a total project budget of $328,000; and

1.3 That staff report back to Council regarding the annual operating costs of the analog system improvements once they are known; and

1.4 That staff report back to Council regarding the potential need for vehicle repeaters upon completion of the project and completion of testing to determine any coverage gaps that may still exist.

2. PURPOSE / PROPOSAL
The purpose of this report is to provide Council with an update on capital project C01260 Radio Infrastructure System Upgrade which was approved in the 2017 capital budget and to request Council approval for a change in project scope and increase in funding as identified in this report.

3. BACKGROUND
On September 19, 2016 Council received report CDS-16-044 Niagara Regional Police infrastructure for communication hardware for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Fire & Emergency Services (attached). The recommendations adopted in this report are as follows:

It is respectfully recommended

1.1 that integration of our radio equipment with the Niagara Regional Police Services radio system through our partnership with the City of St. Catharines Fire Department be endorsed by Council; and

1.2 that $345,000 be forwarded to the 2017 budget deliberations as a Capital project.

Subsequently this initiative was included in the 2017 capital budget at a reduced budget of $295,000 for the completion of the radio infrastructure system upgrade.

This remains an extremely important and worthwhile initiative as there are serious issues with the radio system being used by Niagara-on-the-Lake Fire & Emergency Services as outlined below.

Background on the current radio system
The current radio system used by Niagara-on-the-Lake Fire & Emergency Services is an analog system operating from a single antenna site located at the Virgil water tower. The calls for fire department service are received at the St. Catharines fire dispatch centre located on Merritt Street in St. Catharines where communications staff activate the firefighter pagers by sending a signal from their dispatch centre to the antenna at the Virgil water tower.

The signal then travels from the Virgil water tower antenna to the pagers carried by volunteer firefighters. The pagers relay the call information to the volunteer firefighters who respond to the stations. Once the firefighters respond to the station and don their protective equipment and respond in the fire trucks to the emergency incident they transmit and receive information using radios. These radio signals travel from the radios to the Virgil water tower antenna and then to the dispatch centre in St. Catharines.

The current radio system is very old (hardware believed to be in excess of 20 years old) and has proven to be unreliable and problematic. The limitations and performance issues associated with the current system are as follows:

1) There are gaps in coverage in many areas of Niagara-on-the-Lake including the waterfront in the Old Town (King's Point Condos, Queens Landing etc.), along the Parkway and the Dock area in Queenston, the area of the airport, the Lakeshore Road/Stewart Road area in Virgil and several areas in the Glendale area.

These coverage issues mean that pagers do not activate or may activate but transmit only static and that radios may not transmit or receive or may only transmit or receive static.

2) Because of the weakness of radio transmissions there is inadequate penetration into several large buildings. These issues are extremely bad at the Outlet Mall, White Oaks, Hilton Garden Inn, Kings Point Condos, the Prince of Wales Hotel, Queens Landing and the Pillar and Post Hotel.

3) The volunteer firefighter pagers do not reliably activate in some areas of Niagara-on-the-Lake (as described above) and do not reliably activate in St. Catharines or Niagara Falls.

The result of this means that a Niagara-on-the-Lake volunteer firefighter may be located only a few minutes into St. Catharines or Niagara Falls, be completely available to respond to an emergency incident and never receive the pager activation.

4) The current system has no built in redundancy and should a failure of the single antenna located at the Virgil water tower occur then the entire system is potentially compromised.

The predominant issue with points #1 and #2 above is that it directly impacts firefighter health & safety. A team of firefighters will enter a structure and, depending on the area and/or building, these firefighters may not be able to achieve radio contact with the Incident Commander and other crews operating on the outside of the structure.

This places these firefighters in a dangerous situation whereby they are limited, or completely unable to transmit an emergency message or a mayday should they experience an emergency (structural collapse, rapid fire spread, lost firefighter, firefighter running out of air etc.) due to the radio system limitations.

Conversely, due to the same radio system limitations, the Incident Commander or other exterior crews will have limited or no radio contact to be able to transmit important safety messages to the interior crews such as the need to evacuate the building.

4. DISCUSSION / ANALYSIS
The digital radio system that was proposed in the previous report to Council was one that was designed specifically for the Niagara Regional Police with no fire department involvement during the design phase.

It was only after the initial system design was complete that there was consideration given to offering system space to the 12 fire departments that are based in the Niagara Region.

This initiative, adding the fire departments, would help divest the operating costs associated with this system. The operating costs for the system are fixed costs and any additional partners that are brought into the system (such as fire departments) would then reduce these costs to the Niagara Regional Police.

When the initial report was presented to Council it did not disclose all capital and operating costs associated with moving to the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system. The $295,000 that was approved is not sufficient funding for completion of this project.

At the time the report was drafted the cost per radio may have been only speculative but it has since been confirmed to be $4,563 per portable radio (as opposed to the $1,100 per portable radio that we currently pay), $4,300 per mobile radio (located in each truck) and $4,300 per base station radio (located in each station).

In order to purchase the necessary radios to join the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system a total of $472,540 (plus applicable taxes) would be required. This leaves a significant budget shortfall from the $295,000 that was approved as part of the 2017 capital budget.

In addition, the report that was previously presented to Council did not include the annual operating costs that are charged by the Niagara Regional Police. These charges are $50 per radio per month which would total $63,000 per year.

If Niagara-on-the-Lake Fire & Emergency Services were to continue pursuing joining the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system in lieu of upgrading its current analog radio system it would require an additional $185,857 in one-time funding and $63,000 in annual funding.

In addition to the concerns related to cost, there are concerns related to the performance of the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system. Upon the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system becoming operational, a series of tests were completed across the region. There were some lower tier municipalities that experienced some improvement in coverage and system function, several who reported no improvement in coverage and system function and at least one case, Niagara-on-the-Lake, who experienced worse coverage and system function.

In Niagara-on-the-Lake's case the new Niagara Regional Police digital radio system does not include any antenna sites within the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake and, as a result, during testing the system performed poorer than our current analog system.

The Niagara Regional Police digital radio system serves Niagara-on-the-Lake through one antenna located in the Casino area in Niagara Falls and one antenna located on Lake Street in St. Catharines. The absence of any local system infrastructure (antenna's, repeaters etc.) resulted in diminished coverage during testing.

As a result of this proposed system both costing more than originally reported and performing poorly during testing, fire department staff engaged Talk Wireless (our communication system providers) to compile further options for our consideration.

Because of the costs and test results there are several Niagara Fire Departments who are not joining the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system as first proposed. At this time the departments that have chosen not to join include Welland, Port Colborne, Grimsby, Lincoln and Fort Erie. In addition, Thorold, West Lincoln and Wainfleet remain undecided pending further system testing. The only regional fire departments that have committed to joining at this time are St. Catharines and Niagara Falls (who operate the dispatch centres) and Pelham.

5. STRATEGIC PLAN
Not applicable

6. OPTIONS
Talk Wireless was asked to propose options that would result in the improvements to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Fire & Emergency Services radio system to alleviate the system performance (and subsequent health & safety issues) issues.

These options are as follows:

Option #1 (recommended)
Continue utilizing the existing analog system and make the necessary investments to improve the system to alleviate the performance issues as outlined in the conclusion section below.

Option #2
Join the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system as previously identified in report CDS-16-044 and the 2017 capital budget initiatives. This option would require the additional funding as outlined in this report and would not, based on testing indications, result in the system performance issues being resolved.

Option #3
Join the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system and subsequently enhance the system by adding a combination of vehicle and/or in-building repeaters. These enhancements would be required to alleviate the system performance issues but would come at an added cost over and above the $472,540 (plus applicable taxes) one-time expense.

7. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The financial implications of selecting Option #2 would mean a one-time increase in cost of approximately $185,857 and an annual funding requirement of $63,000.

The financial implications of selecting Option #3 would mean a one-time increase in cost of approximately $185,857, an annual funding requirement of $63,000 and an additional funding requirement to install vehicle and/or in-building repeaters to improve system coverage and performance. The costs for the vehicle and/or in-building repeaters would not be known until system installation was completed and further testing done to identify coverage gaps. The costs for vehicle repeaters range from $10,000 to $25,000 per vehicle and the cost of in-building repeaters varies significantly from as little as $20,000 each to as much as potentially $100,000 each for some of the identified buildings.

The financial implications for Option #1(recommended) are as follows with some costs being known and some annual operating costs not yet being known:

The purchase and installation of the antennas and other hardware for the 4 tower sites referenced later in this report has been quoted at $240,000.

The replacement of the 80 portable radios can be accomplished at a total cost of approximately $88,000 (based on today’s pricing)

The replacement of the 20 mobile radios and 5 base stations would not need to be completed at this time as these radios are still performing well and could be replaced on an as needed basis. If the option is to remain with the analog system the current radios would continue to be compatible and functional.

The purchase and installation of 5 vehicle repeaters (one on each front-line pumper) can be completed for $80,000 ($16,000 per vehicle repeater for the analog system x 5 front-line vehicles). The purchase and installation of the vehicle repeaters would be a contingent item that would be re-evaluated following all other system improvements being completed. Depending on the impact of the 4 antenna simulcast system these vehicle repeaters may or may not be required, and they may only be required in some, but not all, locations. It is recommended that the purchase and installation of the vehicle repeaters be brought back to Council following the successful completion and testing of the simulcast system for further consideration at that time and not be included in the amended project budget at this time.

The unknown annual operating costs associated with this project include the following:

Potential Industry Canada license fee increases

System monitoring, service and support costs

Lease agreements to house the radio system equipment on privately owned buildings or towers

The above costs will not be known until the antenna site locations are chosen and a final system design completed and would be brought back to Council as soon as they were confirmed.

The total one-time capital cost of completing the purchase and installation of a 4 site analog simulcast radio system and replacing the necessary radio equipment is $328,000. This is $33,000 more than the $295,000 that was approved in the 2017 capital budget but significantly less than pursuing either option of joining the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system. It is recommended that the additional $33,000 is funded from the proceeds of the old Virgil Firehall. If approved, this leaves $106,590 from the proceeds of the sale to be allocated to other projects, or to the Tax Stabilization Reserve per the Reserve Policy.

In addition to the $328,000 (the already approved $295,000 and an additional $33,000) that would be required to complete the project in 2018, further consideration will be required in 2019 once the system is complete as to whether up to $80,000 would be required to add vehicle repeater systems. This would be subject to Council approval if deemed required.

Additionally, there will be annual operating costs associated with this system, regardless of which option is chosen, that were never included in the initial report to Council. If the Niagara Regional Police digital radio system was chosen these annual operating costs would be $63,000 per year.

If the analog system is chosen the annual operating costs would include the above noted items. An initial estimate, based only on early quotations made on system assumptions, are that the annual operating costs for the analog system would not exceed $25,000 per year.

8. COMMUNICATIONS
Not applicable

9. CONCLUSION
Staff are recommending Option #1, remaining with the existing analog system and making the necessary investment to improve the system to alleviate the performance issues. This option would mean that the previously approved capital budget project continues but with a revised scope.

The revised scope of work would include:

1) Replacement of the existing antenna with a newer and more modern antenna at the Virgil water tower.

2) The addition of a second antenna on the cell phone tower located beside Fire Station #2 on Warner Road in St. Davids to improve coverage and system reliability in the St. Davids and Queenston areas.

3) The addition of a third antenna to be located in the Old Town (location to be determined) to improve coverage and system reliability in the Old Town area.

4) The addition of a fourth antenna to be located in the Glendale area (location to be determined) to improve coverage and system reliability in the Glendale area.

5) Linking all 4 antenna’s together to become a simulcast system (explained later in this report)

6) Replacement of the current radios (in some cases up to 20 year old) with new modern radios (which would have been required with any option) that will improve radio signal strength and transmissions.

7) Adding vehicle repeaters to front-line pumper trucks to improve building penetration in the aforementioned large and complex buildings where radio signal penetration is challenging if it is required following all other system improvements.

This option, an improved analog system, would achieve the following:

Because the system will be comprised of multiple antenna sites that are inter-connected it will be a simulcast system. This means that all radio and pager transmissions are simultaneously transmitted at all antenna sites. Practically, this means that for every call all 4 antenna's will transmit which means no matter where in Niagara-on-the-Lake a firefighter is located their pager and/or radio will receive improved transmission.

Because the system will be comprised of multiple antenna sites there will be built-in redundancy. Any single antenna site may fail and while it will diminish the overall performance of the system, it would not impact the performance of the remaining antenna sites. This means that the system will be able to continue to function through any isolated antenna failures.

The new system will, if required after all other improvements are made, incorporate 5 vehicle repeater systems located on the front-line pumper truck in each of the 5 districts. These vehicle repeater systems are physically located on the fire apparatus and boost transmissions at the specific incident where the vehicle is located. This will improve in-building penetration at emergency incidents.

The completion of this project and making the necessary system improvements to ensure firefighter safety is a key priority. Staff recommend that Council approve pursuing Option #1 and completing this project with a revised scope of work and budget by replacing the current analog system components and transitioning to a simulcast system as outlined in this report.

Respectfully submitted,

Rob Grimwood Holly Dowd
Fire Chief Chief Administrative Officer

ATTACHMENTS

CDS-16-044.pdf

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