'Copy That,' $100K NYS Grant Means New Radio Communications Equipment for Golden's Bridge Fire Department

GOLDEN'S BRIDGE, NY — A state lawmaker jumped into action to lend a hand to those who have built their lives around helping the community.

From the Golden's Bridge Fire Department.

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When fire, medical, storm-related, and other emergency calls in the Golden's Bridge Fire District are dispatched from the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services, Golden's Bridge Firefighters are first on the scene. Now, an Albany state legislator is answering the call of Golden's Bridge Fire Department personnel in their time of need.

State Sen. Peter Harckham has announced a $100,000 capital funding grant, administered by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), for new radio communications equipment purchased by the Golden's Bridge Fire District.

The purchase was necessary to align the Golden's Bridge Fire Department communications system with the new radio frequencies implemented by the dispatch center, known as 60 Control, of the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services, according to Golden's Bridge Fire Commissioner and ex-Chief Robert Melillo, who initiated the grant application and worked closely with Sen. Harckham's office throughout the process.

"Clear and efficient communications among first-responders can be the difference between life and death in an emergency situation," said Harckham. "I was proud to secure the grant funding to provide the Goldens Bridge FD with a new set of radios to ensure effective lines of communication between members of the department and other first responders in the area."

Golden's Bridge Fire Commissioner Edward Brancati, Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Golden's Bridge Fire District, praised Sen. Harckham's continuous support for first-responders and for providing a major assist in the District's efforts of being fiscally responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.

"On behalf of the District, Fire Department personnel, and community residents and businesses, we are extremely grateful to Sen. Harckham for this $100,000 DASNY grant because it supports critical new equipment essential to emergency response and to the safety of our Firefighters and the community they serve," Brancati said.

"In today's economic environment, it is important to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility and, at the same time, properly equipping our Firefighters with every apparatus and tool necessary to carry out the mission of responding, serving and protecting when called upon. Sen. Harckham has enabled us to achieve both. We have made a necessary investment without burdening the taxpayers with this cost," Brancati added.

In addition to the new radio communications system being in sync with the dispatch center, Melillo noted that the technology is also vital to cross-communications with other emergency services agencies, and is essential to the communications infrastructure and robust emergency response operations of the Golden's Bridge Fire Department

"The new radio equipment enables us to provide rapid, efficient, and coordinated emergency services, which enhances the safety of our firefighters and the residents, businesses, institutions, and others in the community in their time of need," Melillo said.

"The mobile radios provide a secure and reliable method of maintaining internal and external communications that is critical during emergency operations, and they ensure coordination at emergency scenes," said Golden's Bridge Fire Chief Albert Melillo. "Fire departments across the County had to upgrade their systems in order to operate under the new radio frequencies and communicate with the dispatch center.

The $100,000 DASNY grant secured by Harckham covered the purchase of:

• Personal Firefighter Pagers, which are connected to a central paging system and integrated with 60 Control to allow instantaneous relays and incident details of emergency alerts, fire calls, and other information to ensure rapid response.

• Mobile Radios, which are installed in all Golden's Bridge Fire Department emergency apparatus to enable efficient monitoring of and communication with the County's dispatch frequencies. "This allows responding Firefighters in command vehicles and apparatus to engage in real-time communication with dispatch, and with responding mutual aid agencies," Fire Chief Melillo said.

• Base Station Radio with a power source independent of the power grid, which serves as a redundancy/backup to the dispatch center, enabling the Golden's Bridge Fire Department to carry out uninterrupted response and operations, optimal capacity to protect and safeguard life and property, and seamless coordination and communication with other emergency services if 60 Control is offline due to technical issues and storm-compromised Internet and phone service. "It enables rapid response, dispatch of additional apparatus and personnel requested by on-scene command, and coordinated and efficient operations" the Golden's Bridge fire chief explained.

• Fire Siren Radio (also with an independent power source), which serves as a reliable, supplemental notification alert system to emergency calls. Fire Chief Melillo said this is particularly significant since "we are a rural fire district with sometimes unreliable mobile network coverage. It is an additional layer of vital backup support to our communications technology if other forms of communication fail."

The Golden's Bridge Fire Department responds to all residential, commercial, vehicle and brush fires, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, vehicle accidents, storm and weather-related emergencies, and all medical emergencies. Geographically, the Fire District covers the entire hamlet of Golden's Bridge in the Town of Lewisboro and small swaths of Somers and North Salem. Besides local and state roads, Golden's Bridge firefighters respond to vehicle accidents, fires and emergencies on a portion of Interstate 684. In addition to hundreds of residences (single family, developments, a multifamily residential complex, and a community of cooperative garden apartments and townhouses), the District has a church, schools, a shopping center, large commercial businesses with sprawling campuses (including a plumbing supply warehouse, lumber yard, and auto dealership), a Metro North train station, and dozens of small businesses and professional offices. From January 1 through July 30 of this year, the Department was on a record pace of emergency responses for 2026, averaging more than one call a day.

This release was produced by the Golden's Bridge Fire Department. The views expressed here are the author's own.