The Wyomissing Fire Department operates on a high band system that was actually orignated and developed by the original Wyomissing Fire Company. The system began about 1953 when the FCC granted radio callsign "KGB549" to the fire company to operate a radio base from the former Wyomissing Fire Company building. The calls were answered by the bartender who would then transmit the call to the "home receivers". Eventually the dispatching of the fire company was taken over by the Borough's Police dispatchers.
This system provided the foundation for the development of the West Central Berks Fire District - Zone #4 central dispatch which started about 1962 when the Keystone Fire Company #1 of Shillington contracted with the Borough of Wyomissing to provide dispatching services for their company also. The addition of the Zone #4 companies continued until the mid-70's when all 18 Zone #4 companies were dispatched by the Wyomissing Police Department. The central dispatch continued until January 1, 1996, when fire dispatching services were turned over to the Berks County Communications Center.
Until 1996 the Wyomissing Fire Company was identified as "Company #1", and the Berkshire Heights Fire Company was "Company #2". When the transfer in dispatching was done in 1996, the numbers needed to be changed to "Company #63" and "Company #66" respectively. The use of the current identifier "Company #79" came about in 1998 with the full consolidation of operations into the Wyomissing Fire Department occurred.
Current unit identifiers are as follows:
Tower #79 - LTI Ladder Tower
Engine #79 - KME Engine
Engine #79-1 - Pierce Engine
Car #79 - Ford Crown Vic
Frequencies:
County Fire/EMS Paging/Dispatch 151.220 Mhz
Frequency #1 154.310 Mhz
Frequency #2 154.400 Mhz
Frequency #3 154.160 Mhz
Frequency #5 154.355 Mhz
*There is currently no separate frequency #4.
