The department installed Cradlepoint LTE routers on all of its vehicles earlier this month, replacing old USB air cards that often failed to stand up to the rigors of firefighting. Crucially, IT officials can also use the company's cloud-based platform to track where each device is at all times, and check on each router's functionality without ever leaving the station.

"The bottom line is, the Cradlepoints have been awesome," Capt. Dale Rolfson, the department's IT manager, told StateScoop. "With the cloud platform, I can see every single device, and it tells me whether or not they're connected."

Indeed, Rolfson believes the shift has made a huge difference in how firefighters communicate with support personnel, and vice versa. With first responders constantly needing access to all kinds of data, like GPS coordinates or structure plans, Rolfson said it's been vital for his department to start providing them with more consistent connectivity when they're out in the field.

"We're able to push data in areas where you can't even get a cellphone signal," Rolfson said.

Rolfson noted that he's been working on such a transition "for almost five years in total," largely because of the unreliability of the department's method for getting its firetrucks connected.

For years, Rolfson said firefighters depended on "USB modems we connected to all mobile data computers" on board the trucks. But he said the USB connection required to make that system work was often no match for the complexities of such high intensity work.

"You're putting it in a vehicle that's going to shake, rattle and roll as you're going down the road, so the connection would come loose," Rolfson said. "They were easily damaged. Your transmitting and receiving antenna were all in that USB modem, so especially for our trucks that have a lot of steel, that would create a barrier for that signal to get through."