Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Police, Firefighters Struggle With Radio Problems

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 17:04:18 -0500

Police, Firefighters Struggle With Radio Problems
Radios Fail In Some Large Buildings

POSTED: 2:35 p.m. EST February 12, 2003
UPDATED: 10:53 a.m. EST February 13, 2003

Story by NewsChannel2000

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Police and firefighters' radios are going dead in some
of Central Florida's largest buildings, a WESH NewsChannel 2
investigation found.

Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. government studies
have found police and firefighters' radios across the nation are
vulnerable and need to be upgraded.

"We rely on our radios as our lifeline," Orange County Fire Department
Deputy Chief Barry Luke said.

But that communication lifeline doesn't always work in Orange County,
when it's needed most.

"They may have 10 or 15 seconds to evacuate that building to save
themselves," Luke said.

Firefighters and police officers may not even realize it. "If you cannot
deliver that message in that time, there's a chance someone could lose
their life," Luke said.

Communications at the World Trade Center went down on Sept. 11,
2001, so firefighters never heard urgent warnings over their radios to
get out.

"We're very concerned about it," Orange County Public Safety
Communications manager Marilyn Ward said. Last October, Orange
County Fire-Rescue tested their radios inside three popular resort
hotels, and WESH NewsChannel 2 obtained results of those tests. They
were conducted at the 28-story Marriott World Center, nearby Caribe
Royal, and Residence Inn near SeaWorld.

Their radios were either unreliable in the lobby, elevators and
stairwells, or they didn't work at all, the report indicated.

"What we found was that our normal fire channels that we use in that
part of the county were not effective," Luke said.

Ineffective fire and police radios make hotel guests uneasy.

"It's troubling, frankly ... They're not going to be able to communicate
with their commanders and tell people where people are trapped or
where they'll be able to find people," hotel guest Michelle Rudiman said.

WESH NewsChannel 2 has also learned of radio problems in Orlando at
Florida Hospital, Orlando Regional Medical Center, in tunnels under
Universal CityWalk, and on Central Florida's largest college campus.

At the University of Central Florida, Orange County firefighters found
they lost reception on the first floor of the library. So why do radios go
dead?

Experts produced a video explaining the problem after the Oklahoma
City bombing in 1995.

"The further away a large building is from one of our radio towers, the
harder it is for a signal coming out of that tower to penetrate into the
building," Luke said.

When their radios go down, firefighters and police switch to a frequency
that turns those radios into walkie-talkies. Orlando Fire Department
Assistant Chief Bob Sorenson said switching over has little impact on
communications.

"There may be a moment or two when everyone's changing over to
those channels, but it's routine procedure for us," Sorenson said.

It's not perfect. While the frequency allows police and firefighters to talk
short distances to each other on the scene, there's no communication
with dispatchers, and it didn't always work during tests in the three
hotels.

"If we're unable to contact the crews, we're going to send in a rapid
intervention team, and they'll get the message to those crews to back
out," Sorenson said.

It's a problem across Central Florida and the country.

"Orange County is in no worse or better shape than any other large
metro area in the United States," Luke said.

Firefighters and police work around these radio problems. Officials with
the city of Orlando said it's main radio tower downtown helps ensure
police and firefighters can talk in high-rise buildings.

The ultimate solution would cost taxpayers a lot of money.

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?id=5548&sectionId=46
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From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 06:41:40 -0500

Video: Firefighters Struggle
   With Radio Problems

 http://www.newschannel2000.com/news/1973334/detail.html#