HAY RIVER
A new tower will mean better communications for the Hay River Fire Department.

Fire Chief Ross Potter said the 20-metre tower will extend the range that dispatch can summon firefighters by radio and communicate with them when they are out on calls.

"It's going to be a huge improvement," said Potter.

In all, the tower, which is on top of the fire hall, is about 27 metres above the ground.

"We should be able to talk back and forth from Hay River to probably about Kakisa," said Potter.

That increased range means better communications on Highway 1 toward Fort Providence and even south of Enterprise.

"Probably a little bit toward the border," said Potter. "We're pointing more a little bit north and straight west."

The project has been undertaken with $50,000 from ground ambulance highway rescue funding from last year. That money comes from the GNWT.

The new tower is replacing one currently standing by the old fire hall.

"We had a problem with the bottom section of our old tower," said Potter. "It failed, it buckled, and we caught it before it fell right down. So we removed 10 feet of the tower and installed it back with 10 feet removed."

When that happened, the range of what had been a 18-metre tower, which stands on the ground, went down considerably, he said, noting the range only reaches to about Paradise Valley.

The chief said since the tower is shorter than it previously was, places like the campgrounds within Hay River had spotty communications because of trees interfering with the line of sight.

"It can't clear the trees and the signal doesn't go through the trees very well," he said. "Now with the tower way up there, the campgrounds and everything else are going to be an awful lot better for the guys. So if they're camping or whatever, they can still receive a call."

The fire department uses radios to communication with its members because they can all be contacted at the same time.

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