Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FEMA On Santana Row Development Fire San Jose, California

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 03:01:56 -0500

United States Fire Administration

Technical Report Series

Federal Emergency Management Agency

United States Fire Administration

Santana Row Development Fire San Jose, California

USFA TR-153

July, 2003

UNITED STATES FIRE ADMINISTRATION

FIRE INVESTIGATIONS PROGRAM

Issues:  Communications

Comments:  The initial incident rapidly progressed to five alarms and
flying
embers ignited a number of buildings downwind that ultimately developed
into a
separate, six alarm blaze. The two incidents generated a very heavy
volume of
radio traffic, which is common during large-scale incidents, and quickly

overtaxed the city's radio system.

<SNIP>

5. Communications systems are quickly overloaded.

The call volume quickly overloaded the fire department's communications
system
even though the police department did not transfer all of the fire calls
and
helped answer the 911 calls. In addition, the mutual aid dispatch
process is not
automated, which complicated matters as well and delayed the arrival of
resources beyond the third alarm at the Huff/Moorpark fire. The amount
of radio
traffic also exceeded the capabilities of the department's radio system
and
there were insufficient numbers of handheld radios available to
suppression
forces. Sufficient radio frequencies are necessary to divide the load
among the
several divisions and sectors frequently established at large incidents
and
sector or divisional commanders need to be in contact with both their
subordinates as well as command.

<SNIP>

LESSONS LEARNED

Following the incident, a five-member team interviewed all of the
companies that
had been at the fire, including the chief officers from the mutual aid
departments that had responded to assist San Jose. A formal
post-incident
evaluation was also conducted on October 17, 2002 and the department
published a
formal report on the incident, which was presented to the City Council
on
December 17, 2002. The report included eight priority findings. Those
findings
were:

There is a pressing need for County-wide Radio/Data interoperability
The Department needs to acquire additional radio frequencies
A review of the best construction practices should be undertaken
The mutual aid plan needs to be reviewed
The computer aided dispatch system needs to be reviewed and evaluated
Additional staffing and fire stations are needed
Additional handheld radios are needed
Update training for the EOC is needed

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/txt/publications/tr-153.txt
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