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When grassfires get out of control it takes communication to take that control back.

But with every agency in the Rio Grande Valley on a different system, communicating becomes all but impossible.

"You didn't have to go very far to hear someone say run over there and tell the guy in the truck to stop,” Hidalgo County Emergency Manager Oscar Montoya said. “Their communication system wasn't the same as someone else's or we were all communicating on a local system and only one person could talk at a time."

This is exactly what happened on Monday as crews from all over Hidalgo County tried to put out a massive fire on Moorefield Road north of Alton.

"We were trying to communicate with one of our heavy equipment operators in the center of the fire,” Montoya said. “We had to get a flashlight and tell him to watch out there is a hole there---things to that effect. That wouldn't happen if we had this communication system."

The regional communication system would allow all agencies, across South Texas, to communicate with each other—without clogging up one frequency.

One of the largest users of this system would be the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff Lupe Treviño said, right now, the county is about 30 years behind times.  

"We need to get up to par and get what we need," Treviño said.

He also said going the regional route would save the county quite a bit of money. 

"We can cut our costs down to half,” Trevino said. “We can go anywhere between 8 and 10 million dollars because we will be part of regional networking system."

According to state mandate, by 2015 the county has to convert to a new radio system. The new system, if they do not go the regional route, could cost them about $18-million dollars.