The High River Fire Department will be switching their current radio system out for the new first responder radio system announced by the Province Thursday.

Chief Len Zebedee says they got a chance to put the new system through its paces in real world fire fighting up north.

"Our guys were up at Fort McMurray helping them out this spring. They had the government radios up there, a bank of them, along with a portable tower, and our guys were using those radios up there and they said they absolutely fantastic. And we've also been doing some testing of our own with that radio and from portable to portable and pretty much anywhere in the M.D. of Foothills it worked."

The big selling point, is the radio's can be used between fire departments and even between police and EMS so first responders will have much smoother communication in emergency situations.

The only downside is the cost.

The Province has paid for all the infrastructure, but switching over is voluntary, and each fire department will have to buy the radios on their own, at a cost of around $4,500 each.

Zebedee says they'll need at least 23 of them, which works out to $103,500.