MORGANTOWN — MECCA 911 Director Jim Smith said the state intends to troubleshoot local components of its Statewide Interoperable Radio Network (SIRN) with a particular focus on its effectiveness in western Monongalia County.
Smith offered the update during Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Monongalia County Commission.
The radio check comes on the heels of a June 13 gathering of first responders — primarily county volunteer fire personnel — who indicated they are unable to communicate using portable radios in various locations across the county, particularly in the county’s western end.
“The state is actually bringing in some equipment to test their radios to see what is going on with their radio equipment out that way,” Smith said, later adding, “It’s basically a computer within a vehicle. They will drive the area and as they’re driving, the computer is pinging the towers and that will tell the computer what tower it’s hitting.”
Firefighters in the western end have said the radio problems ramped up with the replacement of the communications tower at Catherines Knob, near Fairview.
The 480-foot guyed tower was brought down with an emergency controlled demolition in November 2020 after it was declared “structurally failed” due to a break in one of the legs caused by freezing and thawing water trapped inside.
The structure was replaced by a 340-foot, freestanding tower at the same location.
It was previously explained that the state-owned communications equipment in question is positioned at the same height on the new tower and that the fix could be as simple as adjusting the angle of the components.
Responding to public comments made in the press, members of the commission took exception to the suggestion that they created the problem by replacing an operational tower unnecessarily.
“We just need to focus on trying to fix the problem as it remains. It is an area that has a lot of topographical issues, and we’re interested in fixing those problems. I just wish we would stop the finger-pointing and blaming every time the subject comes up, as if somehow it’s our fault there’s no communication or [Smith’s] fault there’s no communication,” Commission President Sean Sikora said.
Smith explained the SIRN system originated in Monongalia, Marion and Harrison counties in 2004 using federal dollars released after Sept. 11, 2001.
He compared the system to a spider web through which every radio call, no matter how far it’s ultimately going, must travel to one of the system’s main hubs — in this case, Clarksburg.
“For a basic transmission that comes out of MECCA where we’re going to talk to a Westover Police officer, which is right down the road from us, it goes from MECCA to Harmony; from Harmony to Idamay; from Idamay to Shinnston; from Shinnston down to Clarksburg and then back to the officer,” Smith said. “It’s a very-complicated system.”
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