Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Firefighters stay in touch -- with hi-tech radios

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 02:59:35 -0500

Firefighters stay in touch -- with hi-tech radios

The improved equipment has been extensively tested on Staten
Island

Sunday, February 02, 2003

By RYAN LILLIS
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER

In the wake the 343 firefighter deaths on Sept. 11, 2001, the Fire
Department realized it needed better communications equipment. Now
they have it.

The Department has released its new hand-held radios to the city's
firehouses -- five months after the department began testing the devices
on Staten Island -- and they should be in use citywide within the next
week, officials said.

During the early stages of
the testing program here, the
high-tech radios were the
object of criticism among
firefighters who said they
were awkward and not loud
enough. The Fire Department
evaluated the complaints
and, working with Motorola,
which built the devices,
made several changes.

Now, representatives from
both the FDNY and Motorola
say the radios are among
the most advanced in the
country.

Officials are touting the advanced safety features that are designed to help
firefighters rescue injured comrades at incidents. An emergency button
sends out a tone on other radios at a scene that a firefighter is in trouble.
The tone is sent again 10 seconds later in case it was not received the
first time.

The button also activates a "beacon," sending out a honking noise every
four seconds to help firefighters find an injured comrade who may be
buried in rubble or unable to speak. Also, the chiefs' radios will have a
display screen that will allow them to tell whose radio the signal is coming
from.

"There are many improvements safety-wise," said Fire Department Chief
of Operations Sal Cassano. "This equipment has probably been put
through the most rigorous testing procedure of any piece of equipment the
department has used."

John McFadden, a vice president with Motorola's northern division, said
supervisors from both the department and the unions worked out what
they wanted out of the radios, then went to Motorola with the
requirements. The end product, he said, is a radio "a lot of customers
around the country are going to be interested in."

The radios were sent to firehouses on Monday and will become standard
equipment after about a two-week training period, said Frank Gribbon, a
Fire Department spokesman. Gribbon said the radios were used in over 90
drills citywide and at 50 serious fires on Staten Island.

"The data has shown that the radios have performed well," he said, adding
about 5,000 firefighters have used the radios already in drills and at actual
emergencies on the Island.

Post radios -- 45-watt radios used by chiefs -- and repeaters that boost
the devices' transmissions were given to 13 battalions in the city. They will
first be used in areas with high-rise buildings, Gribbon said.

On Sept. 11, up to 100 firefighters were unable to hear a chief's direct
order to evacuate the World Trade Center's Tower 1 before it collapsed.

As a result of this and other problems, the city contracted with Motorola
to design and supply better equipment.

Ryan Lillis covers police, fire and criminal court issues for the Advance.
He may be reached at [email-masked].
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1044199080325760.xml

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