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CHEMUNG COUNTY, N.Y. -- Chemung County has received a large grant to improve emergency communications.

County Executive Tom Santulli announced Thursday that the $6 million state grant will help upgrade the county's fire emergency radio systems. The project will cost about $8 million and will update the current 60 year old system.

911 technology, towers and hundreds of radios will be replaced, along with an up to date fiber optic system throughout the community.

Santulli says the new system will eliminate interference with other signals and provide more protection to residents and firefighters.

"The one thing you need when you're fighting a fire is good communication. Sometimes there's a signal that gets walked on while they're transmitting and no one hears the signal or you don't know what it said and you have to do it again. All that will be no longer a problem," Santulli said.

Santulli also says that the new digital system will be usable for the next 20 years with very few upgrades or alterations.