Logan County first responders are already reporting a vast improvement in communication capabilities in recent months through Honda of America at Marysville’s installation and donation of a Multi-Agency Radio Communication System (MARCS) tower and related equipment on the company’s property.
Monday, Honda announced that it was donating the system to the State of Ohio for use by first responders, in an effort to reaffirm its commitment to public safety and its long-standing partnerships with local Ohio communities.
“By donating this system to the State of Ohio, we are not only enhancing critical incident response capabilities within our plants, but enhancing coverage to our surrounding counties, where so many of our associates live,” Robert Bibart, Honda of America Mfg.’s security manager said in a release.
With the donation, officials note that communications coverage is improved in six different counties — including Union, Logan, Champaign, Madison, Delaware and Marion.
MARCS is a wireless, digital communications network for first responders that provides technology to enable state, local, and federal agencies to communicate instantly with one another during public safety events.
Logan County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ryan Furlong said in recent years, Honda had worked alongside the LCSO and other first responders in the area, including Allen Township Fire Department and the Bellefontaine Fire Department, regarding fire code requirements that must be in place following any significant remodel or building project.
With the recent addition of the Honda Heritage Center at Marysville, the company was ensuring that those protocols were followed and that first responders would have proper communication capabilities in those areas.
When Honda’s new MARCS tower was activated this summer, Lt. Furlong related that local first responders began to observe that former “dead zones” for their hand-held radios in Logan County have significantly decreased and communication has been greatly improved as a result in areas that include East Liberty, Middleburg and West Mansfield.
The LCSO official said Honda’s donated MARCS tower near the Union and Logan county lines provides a critical link between two other MARCS towers that are already in place in those two counties — with one near State Route 540 and U.S. Route 33 in Logan County and another tower near the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Union County, Lt. Furlong said.
In fact, when the Logan County deputies and several other law enforcement agencies worked together in late September on the arrest of an arson subject in a remote area of rural East Liberty, Lt. Furlong said if not for this improved technology and communications abilities through the new tower, the arrest might not have been possible.
“We greatly appreciate this effort from Honda to help improve safety services in the area and are looking forward for the opportunity to better serve the public in these areas,” he said.
Bellefontaine Police Department Chief Brandon Standley said his agency also is grateful for the company’s donation and the opportunity to improve the efficiency of communications.
“The MARCS system joins together many agencies on one platform, and this donation puts a tower in place so that a signal can be obtained that much faster for first responders,” he said. “It also provides us with extra security in case one of the other towers in our area would go down in a natural disaster or another scenario.”
The Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS) manages the MARCS system statewide. The DAS director and state fire marshal also highlighted the significance of this donation.
“The addition of this tower from Honda aids DAS’ ongoing efforts to further strengthen MARCS and improve the safety of both first responders and the Ohioans they protect every day,” DAS Director Matt Damschroder said in a release.
“As the state fire marshal, and on behalf of Ohio’s first responder community, I applaud Honda for its efforts to greatly enhance the ability of area responders to communicate as effectively as possible during a time of emergency,” State Fire Marshal Kevin S. Reardon said. “The ability of first responders to communicate with partner agencies is critical to the success of any emergency response plan.”