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The S.M. Vauclain Fire Company, based in the Philadelphia suburb of Crum Lynne recently had first-hand experience of the durability and strength of Vertex Standard two-way radios.

A 30-strong volunteer outfit which also services a number of neighbouring towns, including coverage of Interstate 95 near the Philadelphia International Airport, it houses a fire tender, a rescue truck, a command car and an ambulance. And like many volunteer fire departments, one of the biggest challenges is having sufficient funds to properly equip everyone in the department.

“It costs about $2,200 to outfit each fire fighter with the proper gear,” said Mike Garvin, a fire fighter since 1979 and the Fire Chief since 2004. In this role, Mike is responsible for managing operations and the budget - the department is eligible for relief funds and actively pursues grant funding which takes time to secure. As a result, he prides himself on being “well researched” in every purchase made on behalf of the department to ensure they get the most out of every dollar spent.

Garvin purchased two VX-4200 mobile radios in the spring of 2008 to be used by the Fire Chief and his Deputy. He was introduced to Vertex Standard by his local dealer and upon reviewing the radios, was impressed by the display and compact size of the VX-4200 since he has limited space in the console of the car.

“After looking at the radio further, it seems to be a pretty smart design,” he commented as he noticed the on/off switch was protected, positioned underneath the radio to avoid abuse.

On a Sunday morning in June 2008, the Fire Chief’s car caught fire destroying the engine and front passenger area where the mobile radio was located. “When extinguishing the fire we had to deploy water directly on the area of the dashboard,” noted Garvin.

“The radio console with the VX-4200 was directly hit with water and I must say that most of the equipment in the car was destroyed but not the radio,” he added. Everything located above and below the radio was ruined while the radio and the speaker microphone still worked.

In an email sent to Vertex Standard’s Customer Service team in February 2009, Garvin wrote: “To this day our Vertex Standard radio is still in service in our new Chief’s car and we just wanted to give you guys kudos!”

“My only question is, how did you build such a good radio?” he said. And as a result of this first experience with Vertex Standard radios, he acknowledged: “I am truly a big fan of Vertex radios and will only purchase Vertex equipment for my fire company. I have met some resistance from the older guys who grew up on other radios, but when they get to see the difference they are easily won over!”