Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Failure of radios disrupts firefighters -- The Washington Times

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 13:04:13 -0500

http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20021205-81788965.htm

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 

Front Page

Nation/Politics

World

Commentary

Opinion/Editorial

Metropolitan

Sports

Business

Technology

Entertainment

Culture

Weather

Family Times

Auto Weekend

Wash. Weekend

Books

Home Guide

Arts

Nat'l Weekly Edition

Classifieds

Gift Guide

Tourist Guide

Int'l Special Reports

Employment Extra

December 5, 2002

Failure of radios disrupts firefighters

By Matthew Cella

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Firefighters' emergency radios failed on the scene of a two-alarm fire at a congressman's Capitol Hill home Tuesday night, complicating efforts to extinguish a blaze that caused more than $100,000 damage.

Top Stories

• U.S. set to cite Iraq for breach

• Bush scoffs at U.N. over 'cooperation'

• INS lacks proper checks on aliens

• U.N. team sets trap in Baghdad

• Religion linked to positive outlook in teenagers

• No calm before storm for the weathermen

No one was injured in the incident at the home of U.S. Rep. David Wu, Oregon Democrat, in Southeast. It was the latest in a series of radio failures that have plagued the fire department's 2-year-old, $5.3 million communications system. The Washington Times has reported that previous radio failures have forced firefighters to ad-lib communications by using cell phones or foot messengers.

About 90 emergency workers and 30 vehicles responded to the 7:30 p.m. fire at Mr. Wu's row house in the 300 block of North Carolina Avenue SE. But instructions to firefighters attacking the blaze went unheard because one of the city's four antennas that relay emergency radio signals had failed two hours earlier.

One firefighter on the scene said the first-arriving fire engines could not tell later-arriving engines about where they were drawing their water supply, which delayed efforts to maximize water pressure and volume to firefighters inside the house.

"No one understood what anyone was saying over the radios," the firefighter said. "If there had been an additional hazard, no one would have known it was there."

Fire department spokesman Alan Etter said the antenna tower on the St. Elizabeths campus in Southeast failed about 5:20 p.m.

One of the antenna's computer boards malfunctioned, and Motorola Inc. technicians repaired it by 10:30 p.m.

In the meantime, emergency communications in Southeast were disrupted.

"This is very concerning. This system will be online two years in January," Mr. Etter said. "We have a vested interest in having a radio system that works properly. We want that sooner rather than later, but we're doing the best we can with what we have."

The fire at Mr. Wu's home started when heat from the furnace ignited a cardboard box.

Mr. Wu was not home; his wife and two children escaped while firefighters rescued the family's dog. The fire took nearly an hour to contain.

"When you lose a tower, it makes it very difficult for units to talk to each other and to talk to the incident commander, especially when they're inside a building," Mr. Etter said.

On the orders of the incident commander, firefighters switched to their "talkaround" frequency, a backup channel that allows the radios to work like walkie-talkies and send signals point to point to nearby emergency responders. The responders, who must be within each other's line of sight to receive the signals, then relay messages to the incident commander.

The fire department has endorsed the relay system as a temporary solution and since October has dispatched an extra fire engine on every call to provide extra bodies for radio relay teams.

Switching to the talkaround channel, however, deactivates firefighters' emergency identifier devices, and communications on the channel are not recorded.

In addition, firefighters cannot communicate with dispatchers, who would send additional resources if needed.

The Times reported last month that the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) is more than a month behind in a $31 million project to enhance the communications system by installing new transmitters and antennas.

The city received $46 million in federal homeland security money last year to upgrade the system by Sept. 30.

Linda Argo, OCTO chief of staff, said the new system is "on schedule and will be up and running by October 1, 2003."

She said it will include "numerous system redundancies" that will prevent the kind of outages experienced Tuesday night.

Back to Metro

•

Bush Claims 'Solid' Evidence on Iraq

•

Deadly Snowstorm Sweeps Up East Coast

•

Archdiocese Closer to Bankruptcy Filing

•

Bad Weather Delays Shuttle's Return

•

NYC Park Rape Convictions May Be Tossed

Updated at 12:00 p.m.

•

Saddam: Iraq to give inspectors a chance

•

DNA tests could exonerate La. convict

•

Stocks fall on weak retail news

•

What U.S. papers say about Cardinal Law

•

Boston diocese mulls bankruptcy

All site contents copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc.
Privacy Policy