HUNTINGTON, Ind. (WFFT) - The Huntington Fire Department will use a $1.2 million grant to purchase new radio equipment for themselves and seven other fire departments.

Huntington Fire Chief Tony Johnson said they needed them.

"It's a pretty big deal for us. Right now our radios are obsolete and unrepairable,” Chief Tony Johnson said.

A grant from the U.S Department of Homeland Security will provide 207 handheld radios, 47 mobile radios, nine station radios and 138 new pagers.

"The expense of the radios for our small department was a big thing. We're starting to implement them into our budget but we're gonna start getting anywhere between seven or eight radios a year. That would have taken us quite a while. It would have been six to seven years before we would've been up to the full force of all of our radios," he explained.

With this grant Andrews, Roanoke, Bippus, Warren, Mt. Etna, Markle and Huntington Township will all get the radio upgrades.

Not only does it take a strain off of their budget but there won't be muffled sound coming through the system like in the past.

"Our radios are kind of garbled. It's hard to hear what the officer inside is telling command. These will be a lot more clearer. We're going to be able to communicate easier. We're going to be able to understand where everybody's positions are and what they are supposed to do and be able to understand the report the officer gets," Johnson explained.