ESSEX

On Oct. 22, the Essex Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved a total of $108,900 in appropriations for technology to bolster the townwide capabilities of the town’s fire department. The expanded technologies include radio equipment for improved communications at the Witch Hazel water tower and Knox Box devices at residential properties in town.

The BOS approved $100,000 from the fire department’s sinking fund for new repeaters for the Witch Hazel watch tower. The presence of a repeater on the water tower expands the communication capabilities of the fire department by ensuring that a signal for an emergency can still be received in another repeater in town which is nonfunctioning, according to First Selectman Norm Needleman.

“We’ve been offered the opportunity to put up repeaters on the water tower under a long-term lease, so that if anything happened with the water tower close to the downtown, we would have a solid backup alternative,” said Needleman. “That's important to me.”

Needleman told the Valley Courier that the town hopes to see the repeaters installed “sometime in the first half of 2025,” depending on the availability of the installers. Meanwhile, “the purchase commitment has to be made this year,” he added.

The Knox Box program which began in August is receiving additional funding with $8,900 from the ARPA contributing to what both Needleman and Fire Marshal John Planas view as a successful program in town.

“The program has been incredibly well-received and enormously successful,” said Needleman. “It was great that John jumpstarted that.”

Needleman said he has received calls from people who are “desperate” for a Knox Box at their property, including from seniors who are on fixed incomes. The first selectman said that it’s important for people in this demographic to have a Knox Box because “we want to make sure that the people who are most in need and need the protection, like seniors, who have a hard time getting to a door” are able to have the devices for quick access by the fire department in the case of an emergency.

The program should also remain a cost-effective one in that regard, too. The presence of a Knox Box device at a home where the tenant is a senior citizen, or at a vacation home in Essex where its owners are not in town, provides the fire department with “rapid access” to a home, rather than having to break down its door, as Planas had previously informed the Valley Courier.