Resources

The NRG Firewise Association currently uses MURS radios for communications. These radios do not require a license and are beginner-friendly.
The preferred model of MURS radio is the Radioddity MU-5 MURS radio. You can buy it on the Radioddity website or get a 2-pack (no longer see a 1-pack) on Amazon. Here is the link to the Radioddity MU-5 on Radioddity’s website: https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-mu-5
The radio costs $39.99, but you can get a $10 coupon for registering online with the company.
Another MURS radio that we have tested and used to recommend before we discovered the Radioddity MU-5 radio is the BTECH MURS-V2 radio (we used to recommend the MURS-V1, but the V2 is better). Here is a link to that radio: https://baofengtech.com/product/murs-v2/?gad_campaignid=21277330282&gbraid=0AAAAADooDKNg4sP4Gu2A6z6db3I3pjUHu
That radio costs $44.89 from Baofeng. It costs the same amount from Amazon. Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/BTECH-MURS-V2-Customizable-Weatherproof-Broadcast/dp/B0BS8KW399?sr=8-1
We used to recommend another radio, the Dakota Alert, but we no longer consider this radio a great option because you cannot scan for police and fire channels (along with the MURS channels).
Both the Radioddity MU-5 and BTECH MURS-V2 radios must be programmed, and unless you want to spring for an additional cable and deal with the oddities of the required software for programming, we recommend you ask either Eric Swenson or Keith Trinity to program the radio for you.
You can reach Eric Swenson at eric@swenson.org. He lives on Hidden Valley Rd.
You can reach Keith Trinity at keithtrinity@gmail.com. He lives on Amigo Rd.
Feel free to ask any radio questions of either of us (or both of us).