The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PRESCOTT – A $183,300 United States Department of Agriculture community facilities grant will allow the City of Walla Walla to fund the installation of new emergency communications equipment on a tower near Prescott.

The project, which is expected to be completed in a year’s time, will improve radio coverage for law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services in a large, rural portion of Walla Walla County. Currently, emergency responders are unable to communicate with each other or with dispatchers via radio when they are in the Prescott area, and must drive to where communication can be established, or use landlines.

The award will be combined with $83,346 in Walla Walla Emergency Services Communications reserve funds and $66,737 from Walla Walla County Emergency Management Department for a total project cost o $333,383.

The USDA grant represents almost half of the entire awardable community facilities funds for the state of Washington for 2016 but was deemed important because the project will serve the entire county.