The Holts Summit Fire Protection District is staying tuned in to dispatch, thanks to a state grant.
The department received a matching grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation and the US Forest Service Volunteer Fire Assistance Program in order to purchase new dispatch pagers for personnel, completing the shift to the new system after an FCC mandate rendered their former equipment obsolete.
Holts Summit was one of 182 rural departments in Missouri to apply for and receive grant funds. They received $3,000 of the $354,467 dispersed statewide, 50 percent of which had to be matched by each department.
HSFPD Public Information Officer Scott Pasley said that the pagers serve as a direct line of communication between firefighters and dispatch and are vital in accurately and quickly notifying personnel when service is needed.
"That's a big thing, it's way more reliable," Pasley said. "With the older equipment, it was possible we'd have a volunteer who wouldn't even hear of an incident, their pager may never go off."