By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO - When a massive ice storm shut down northern New York several years ago and scores of fire and other responding emergency services agencies couldn't communicate with each other on their radios, state officials decided it was time to get their act together.

The state police sought funding to build a new statewide network that would include all municipal agencies that wanted inclusion. State radio systems were so old and obsolete that they had to be cannibalized for parts to keep them running.

Cell phones wouldn't work. They weren't fast enough and you couldn't talk to more than one person at a time without complicated planning.

What resulted was the independent Office for Wireless Technology. Two of its spokespeople appeared at the Sullivan County Legislature's October 5 public safety committee to invite Sullivan to participate. The system, they explained, would act like a software platform program on a computer, allowing the localities to pretty much do what they want with a system designed to work in 95 to 97 percent of the locations in New York, no matter how remote. "The state has no intent in telling you how to run it. Just enjoy it," said David Cook.

Sullivan County fire officials have long complained about dead spots in the county system. "We'll take it," shouted Fire Advisory Committee chair John Halchek.

The system is still in the planning stage and Cook said that part of the reason the counties were being contacted so early was that they want it "state of the art" and officials want to know what local agencies would be looking for.

The first phase of the 800-megahertz system is to be built in 18 to 24 months, and the whole system would be complete in four years. Cook implied that Sullivan could be considered as one of the pilot areas for the program, if antenna sites were available. "If you were interested, it would be helpful if you let us know," he said.