Benzie County (MI)

Benzie County Public Safety

Benzie County Fire/EMS Info

There are 6 fire departments and 3 EMS departments in Benzie County, Station 1-9. Stations 2 and 3 and County EMS station, which are always manned. All other departments are part-time and volunteers. All personnel check in to central dispatch when responding to their station during a call using their POV unit names. Example of a POV unit name: 15-73 or 14-03. You can tell what department by looking at the second digit of the POV number. Example: 15-73 is part of station 5.

Station - Department - Address - Township

Station 1 - Benzie County EMS Director (no tones) - 448 Court Pl - Benzonia Twp

Station 2 - Benzie EMS (Benzonia Station) - 448 Court Pl - Benzonia Twp

Station 3 - Benzie EMS (Frankfort Station) - 120 Park Ave - Crystal Lake Twp

Station 4 - Frankfort-Area FD - 1223 James St - Crystal Lake Twp

Station 5 - Benzonia Twp FD - 1020 Michigan Ave - Benzonia Twp

Station 6 - Homestead Twp FD - 11508 Honor Hwy - Homestead Twp

Station 7 - Almira Twp FD and EMS - 7272 Ole White Dr - Almira Twp

Station 8 - Thompsonville FD - 14714 Lincoln Ave - Weldon Twp

Station 9 - Inland Twp FD - 19668 Honor Hwy - Inland Twp

Station 11 - Thompsonville EMS - 14714 Lincoln Ave - Weldon Twp

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Benzie County Radio info

Benzie County's law enforcement and Fire/EMS has fully migrated to the Michigan's Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS), and the only non-P25 public safety frequency is 154.920 - used for VHF Fire Dispatch

MPSCS P25 Sites in Benzie County

Homestead Twp Site (main site) * WPQD480: 44.641308, -86.016659

851.2000, 851.4625, 852.4625, 853.4625, 853.9625

--Main site used in the county, transmits Benzie county talkgroups

Inland Twp Site * WPQD480: 44.64250, -85.82369

851.0125, 851.3000, 851.9500, 852.4250, 852.9000, 853.5875, 853.8750, 855.6125, 855.9375

--Repeats talkgroups from Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Wexford, and Manistee county.

Frankfort Repeater Site * WQWL875: 44.63608, -86.24081

854.98750, 856.96250, 857.98750

--Repeater for Frankfort, which is located in a geological bowl. Repeats Law and Fire dispatch only. Frequencies are not trunked.

The Talkgroup IDs (TGIDs) used in the county are as follows

65535 - PD TAC

4967 - PD DISPATCH

4335 - FD/EMS OPS

4201 - COUNTYWIDE

5534 - EMS TAC

5535 - FIREGROUND/OPS 1

5536 - FIREGROUND/OPS 2

5537 - FIREGROUND/OPS 3

Benzie County Attractions Information

Crystal Mountain is using Kenwood portable 2-way radios and mainly uses the frequencies 464.5125 (Alpine Slide for summer months), 152.420 for Ski Patrol and 462.3625 (for housekeeping operations). No other activity has been logged through their other channels.

Apparently they have 10 channels they use. I have only found two on their FCC License that are active.

Their radio system consists of at least 3 repeaters: one at the top of the crystal clipper lift, one atop the housekeeping building, and one on the top of the cell phone tower on site.