St. Cloud Fire Department Looking To Spend $360K On New Alerting System [AUDIO]

ST. CLOUD - The St. Cloud Fire Department is looking to spend up to $360,000 to upgrade it's Fire Station Alerting System.

Chief Bill Mund says their current system was installed in 1987, and parts for it are no longer available.

Mund says the new system would help reduce call response times, because once a call comes in to the dispatch center, the relay to the appropriate fire station is automatic.

Mund says their current system has been unreliable at times.

Mund says at least two medical responses were missed and not responded to.  Fortunately, St. Cloud Police and Gold Cross were notified and did respond in those cases.  Also, recently Fire Station 5 did not receive an alert for a fire, which delayed their response time.  The new system they're asking for automatically tests the system every 30 seconds.

Mund says they would pay for the system with money from the Fire Reserve Account.

The St. Cloud City Council first needs to approve the expenditure.  It's part of their council meeting agenda tonight (Monday).