New Phones, Fiber Optics For Huntley Fire District

The Huntley Area Fire Protection District Board approved a new phone system Tuesday to tie its soon-to-be four firehouses together.  Then they OK'd some fiber optic upgrades to make it all work.

Deputy Chief Ken Caudle told trustees the District's current phone system is so old in tech terms (ten years) that there aren't even patches to keep it limping along anymore.
The low bid on a new system to let fire stations talk to each other, make PA announcements and expand for new stations when they're built was $82,000.  The good news there, Caudle said, was that's $3,000 less than the estimate, also the figure on a grant request the District has pending to pay for the whole thing.

The new phone setup is a VOIP system that uses fiber optic transmission instead of copper lines. That's the same thing everyone's switching to for Internet access.  The District's Station 4 which will begin construction this month will have fiber optics built in.  The other three stations need it added.  "We missed that when Stations Two and Three were built," said Caudle.  "It wasn't that common then."  The tab to upgrade the older stations will be $29,000.

In the pic:  Trustee Bob Kunde swore in Firefighter Paramedic Dave Floyel Tuesday who'll replace a comrade on the disabled list.  Three full-time and three part-time firefighters will join him soon as planned staff for Station Four.  Retired Elgin Lieutenant Steve Berry was sworn in Tuesday, too, as an HFPD Commissioner.