Something's up at the Portage la Prairie fire hall on 3rd Street North East. A new radio tower was erected last week at the site, and it's about almost 40 feet higher than the tower previously in place. Fire Chief Phil Carpenter says he's hoping the new equipment will greatly improve their operations, by improving communication between the fire hall and its members.

"This definitely should improve our communications with the higher positioning of our antenna system on the tower. It should reach our pagers, and every firefighter carries a pager with them. So hopefully this will give clear communication on there, and it's the same thing with our radio system."

However, it's not just the fire hall that will see the benefits of the 105 foot tower. Carpenter says while they'll use the tower to connect with various agencies surrounding their firefighting activities, other organizations will also be taking advantage of the new equipment.

"On the tower we'll be attaching our pager system antenna, our provincial fire frequency antenna, Neptune water system has attached an antenna system, which will work with the new water meter reading system, and the RCMP will also be attaching their antenna."

The new water meter systems aim to streamline the process of reading meters, by having water use data transmitted through radio waves to the tower, which will then be calculated by the city. The city hopes this not only reduces the amount of time staff spend going door-to-door, but will also result in more accurate water bills.