Last month the City Council unanimously approved a nearly $1.2 million contract for the improvements to the Knoxville Fire Department's current alert and dispatch system for all of its fire stations, which was purchased in 1985 and partially upgraded in 2002. It is currently no longer supported, leaving the system vulnerable to catastrophic failure, according to the city.
Currently, when a part breaks, KFD will purchase a replacement off eBay because parts are no longer manufactured, KFD Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks said during a tour of a station Friday. Parts of the system are held together by “shoestrings and bubblegum,” he said.