Fauquier supervisors order technical assessment after years of public-safety radio failures

Fauquier County supervisors on Feb. 13 directed further technical assessment of the county's troubled public-safety radio system after presenters described multiple incidents in which crews inside burning buildings could not transmit to command. The board's public-safety radio committee has selected a consulting firm to produce a replacement plan and staff told supervisors the work and any procurement would be presented as part of the fiscal 2026 budget process.

The issue matters because the county's radio backbone supports law enforcement and fire-rescue dispatch across Fauquier, Culpeper and Rappahannock counties. Presenters said the system has had ongoing malfunctions since the county contracted with L3Harris in 2016, and that incidents have included failures to transmit from crews inside structures and repeated firmware and hardware faults.

Chief Scott Smith (Fire and Rescue) described an incident in which a chief officer inside a burning building could not get a radio transmission to the command vehicle in plain sight, saying, "we merely could not make a transmission for that." The inability to reliably communicate during active-fire conditions, staff said, has undermined confidence in the system for both mayday-level events and routine coordination.

County technical staff reported there are 935 radios in service countywide: 607 portables and 321 mobiles. The system's field equipment and microwave backbone form a loop connecting the three counties; Harris has asserted it can sustain the system through its useful life and the formal service contract extends to June 30, 2029. The county radio administrator and staff documented a long list of recurring failures: controls that needed replacement, push-to-talk failures on fire mics, charger and bank failures, and radios entering an unusable "lock/unlock" state that required physical resets.

Radio administrator Chuck Cooler explained that some faults require physically removing a mobile radio from an apparatus, unplugging it and reinstalling it to clear the error. Cooler and Chief Smith told the board that Harris has provided limited effective support for these recurring problems and that staff have compiled a notice package to the vendor.

The county's Public Safety Radio Committee has contracted Federal Engineering to evaluate options and produce a replacement plan. Committee members said they currently consider Motorola equipment most appropriate for future portables and mobiles but emphasized replacement is a large financial undertaking and that multiple procurement and financing options will be presented to the board.

County attorneys and procurement staff were asked to research whether civil remedies remain available against the vendor; staff noted a warranty period has expired and said they would follow up with the county attorney on the status of previous legal notices. Supervisor discussion focused on ensuring an independent technical assessment informs an FY'26 funding request.

Staff said the assessment will include a phased financing plan and that replacement options will be brought back to the board as part of the FY'26 budget cycle. For now, supervisors authorized continued work by the radio committee and asked staff to produce a detailed cost and schedule estimate for board review.

"We have had approximately over a thousand complaints from our staff," Chief Smith said, asking the county to accelerate the assessment. County staff said they will also follow up to update the board on the prior notice sent to L3Harris.

The board did not take a formal procurement vote at the Feb. 13 session; the committee's selection of Federal Engineering and the recommendation to pursue Motorola-class replacements were described as committee decisions reported to the board and will be subject to formal action in future budget or procurement items.