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Glendale raises firefighter recruitment and radio reliability concerns; explores vehicle-tracking for town trucks
Summary
Board members said the town needs additional firefighters to maintain its ISO rating, reported problems with pagers and radios, and discussed using a telematics service (Motive) to monitor municipal truck use and hours.
Glendale board members raised concerns about firefighter staffing and radio/pager reliability at the July 17 meeting and discussed options to monitor town vehicle usage.
Board members said recruiting volunteer firefighters has been an ongoing problem and that losing personnel could affect the town’s ISO rating. Members also reported that pagers and older radio systems have not been reliable and described the town’s interest in an upgraded trunked radio system. Separately, the board discussed fleet-tracking devices and a telematics service (Motive) that can record vehicle location, hours and driver behavior.
Why it matters: Fire-department staffing and communications directly affect emergency response capability and property-insurance ratings. Vehicle telematics can provide data for operations, maintenance and accountability for town vehicles.
Details: - Board members said they have been trying to recruit firefighters for nearly a year and noted the importance of preserving the ISO rating; staff said some pagers have not been reliable and that the county or regional trunked system could eventually replace older equipment. - The board discussed a telematics platform (Motive) and said devices and subscription services cost roughly a few hundred dollars for equipment and about $20–$25 per month for a subscription; one board member said the system can report speed, hours and generate alerts if unplugged. - The town discussed logging vehicle inspections and driver hours; staff reported a plan to have a driver keep a log and suggested purchasing a plug-in telemetry device if the board wanted automated monitoring.
Quotes: "We need to keep our ISO rating where it's at, or we're gonna be in trouble," a board member said when discussing firefighter recruitment.
"Motive is the name of it," one participant said, describing the telematics company the town is evaluating.
Next steps: Board members asked staff to draft a recruitment outreach and to investigate radio/pager reliability and telematics pricing and equipment to return with estimates at a future meeting.
