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Thursday, December 20, 2001
Radios Hindered Bravest [Source: New York Daily News] By JOE CALDERONE Commanders desperately trying to evacuate firefighters from the north tower during the World Trade Center disaster were seriously hampered by ineffective radio communications, the Daily News has learned. Deputy Chief Peter Hayden, a 33-year veteran who was in charge of the department's command post in the north tower lobby at the time, said he and other department brass made a decision to begin withdrawing firefighters from the tower minutes after the second plane, United Flight 175, crashed into the south tower at 9:03 am. But the order for firefighters to get out could not be relayed to all firefighters inside using the battery-operated "handy-talkie" radios they carry, Hayden and other fire officials said. "There were companies as high as the 50th floor, and we weren't able to communicate with them to come down," Hayden said. "We asked the companies we were able to communicate with to relay that to the other units." Tragically, the message never got through to many firefighters. The problem in high-rises with the Motorola two-way radios, with speakers firefighters clip on near their shoulders, was well known to the department. A special booster system, known as a "repeater," was installed by the Port Authority at the World Trade Center after the 1993 terrorist bombing to strengthen the emergency radio signal inside the complex. The repeater was knocked out during the attack. Port Authority spokesman Allen Morrison said the booster system relied upon a 3-foot antenna on top of 5 World Trade Center, which was taken out by falling debris on Sept. 11. Attempts to use telephones inside the building also were fruitless, Hayden said. "All we had was the handy-talkies, which were ineffective," he said. "After the second plane hit the south tower, we had a conference, and then we started calling the firefighters out of the north tower. We were doing it on the handy-talkies. Our problem was the handy-talkies do not have good transmission. We were not able to communicate effectively with a number of the companies," Hayden said. Not all firefighters who responded to the attack were carrying radios, further complicating the situation. Hayden, who has been interviewed by department officials as part of an internal review of the Sept. 11 operation, said he didn't know how many of the 343 firefighters who perished received the order to leave. Fire Department officials confirmed the problem with the handy-talkies and are still interviewing firefighters who were on the scene, but said they had reached no conclusion about its seriousness. "We want to have all the information before coming to conclusions," said Deputy Fire Commissioner Frank Gribbon. "We've heard some people heard orders to evacuate, and we've heard some people did not," Gribbon said. "This has always been our experience with the handy-talkies. We always have had communication problems in high-rise structures with the handy-talkies to varying degrees." Order Given to North Tower Even after the south tower collapsed, some firefighters inside the north tower didn't get word to withdraw, said one ranking Fire Department source. "Some people had the evacuation order. Some heard it, some didn't," said the official. "Some made their own call to evacuate. Some knew the other building had come down, others didn't." Fire chiefs who gave the order to pull back were concerned that a third plane might strike the building, the official said. The radio problems on Sept.11 have renewed a debate within the department about whether the old handy-talkie radios should be replaced by new ones that use digital technology. Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen yanked thousands of new digital radios from the field in March after union officials complained they were not properly tested and that one firefighter's calls for help in the basement of a Queens house fire were not heard over the system. The new Motorola digital radios, which would cost the department more than $20 million, are designed to be more effective in high-rise fires, officials said.
Tetra to Safeguard Pope [Source: New California Media Online] By Paolo Pontoniere An Italian online technology newsletter--www.debiase.com--reports this week that Anaheim, California-based Motorola is providing the Vatican with a digitally enhanced radio network. — Called Tetra, the new technology offers a stronger encryption for cellular communication than standard digital phones, and makes possible the transmission of imaging protocols over the web to a handheld digital radio-like communicator, enabling it to also transmit and receive rich-text messages. In addition to allowing users to communicate with one another over radio waves, thus reducing calling costs, the Tetra technology allows users--in the event that the network should fail--to communicate over traditional telephone lines. In the case of the Vatican, Tetra's appeal rests in the network's ability to allow Papal security agents to beam images to a central command station, and to each other, in real time. Using this feature, the Vatican's secret agents, after having sent images taken during Papal ceremonies to the central command, could more easily spot terrorists and criminals hiding in the crowd by utilizing biometric imaging software. This ability would in turn allow them to coordinate an immediate response to potential threats to the Pope and to top cardinals. Also potentially appealing to the Vatican Intelligence central command: Tetra allows users to tell the real position of each of the network users, thus allowing security agents to locate one another with precision. According to www.debiase.com, since September 11, Vatican security has come under pressure as threats to the Pope and to high prelates have increased dramatically. Italy had scheduled the introduction of Tetra technology to its national police force in 2002. But given the increased risks to the Pope, who has been named as a potential target by Italian al-Qaeda operatives, the Vatican decided to render the system operative immediately. Copyright © Pacific News Service Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Radio Used on Sept. 11 Is Questioned [Source: The NY Time] By KEVIN FLYNN Fire Department officials are investigating whether some firefighters engaged in rescue efforts at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 did not hear an order to evacuate the buildings because the handheld radios they were using did not function properly, officials said yesterday. Some firefighters have told officials that they never heard an evacuation order given by Chief Joseph Callan after the second plane hit that morning. As a result, they said, they did not know that Chief Callan had broadcast a message over the radios in which he ordered the firefighters to "come down to the lobby." A spokesman for the department, Francis X. Gribbon, said investigators had not determined whether the reported problem resulted from a breakdown in reception or transmission or whether some other factor may have prevented some firefighters from hearing the command. "Some people heard it and some people didn't," he said. "We're doing an investigation and when we get everyone's testimony we hope to have a comprehensive idea of just what happened." The department has already interviewed more than 300 people to get a better sense of how the fire companies responded on the day of the attack and what problems they encountered. Among those interviewed have been 135 fire officers or firefighters. Mr. Gribbon said it was unclear how many of those interviewed had indicated that they had a problem hearing the order. Officials have estimated that several hundred firefighters had rushed into each of the towers and worked there successfully to evacuate some 25,000 people before the towers fell. A total of 343 firefighters lost their lives in the attack. Officials have cautioned that even those who heard Chief Callan's command might have ignored it because they were simultaneously hearing urgent calls for help from fellow firefighters who were trapped and needed assistance. The hand-held radios used by the department have been a point of contention within the agency for much of the past year. Commissioner Thomas Von Essen had moved to replace the current analog radios with a new digital model, but the newer versions were pulled from service several months ago after firefighters reported having had difficulty hearing messages at fires. In one incident, one trapped firefighter's Mayday call was not heard by some of his colleagues at a Queens fire. The new radios are still being re-evaluated. During the debate several months ago, many firefighters expressed a preference for the older radio, with which they were more familiar. But officials have long said that the analog radio had problems operating in high-rise buildings, where their signals difficulty penetrating many floors of steel and concrete. On the day of the attack, radio communications were further complicated by the fact that a device at the twin towers, known as a repeater, which helps to boost the signal of the radios, appears to have been damaged by the impact of the planes and was not working, officials said. An official of the union that represents fire supervisors said that it did not appear that the reception problem had been widespread. "I have not heard from any of my officers about any communication problem on that day," said Peter Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. "But if they had had the digital radios, they would have more problems because the repeater system there was operating on an analog mode." Thomas Manley, the sergeant-at- arms for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said that the department had long had a problem with reception in high-rise buildings. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
BLM radio system called inadequate [Source: The Desert Sun] By Lukas Velush Federal rangers who have had too many close calls in rural parts of the California desert are trying to force their superiors to buy them a new radio system. An unidentified number of U.S. Bureau of Land Management rangers filed a complaint with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration earlier this month. They are charging that the BLM’s radio system puts them in physical jeopardy because it is undependable. In a Dec. 6 letter, Leonard Limtiaco, OSHA’s director of enforcement and investigations, said the BLM is not being investigated, but that the BLM needs to review the problem. "There was numerous times when either I or other rangers would be dealing with armed groups of drunken individuals," said retired ranger Tom Biller, who worked for the BLM locally from 1988 to 1998. "We would be out there by ourselves and our radios would not work." Biller said he once came across a group of individuals in a remote area near Mecca. When he went to question them, shots were fired at him. He wasn’t hit and was able to separate the alleged shooter from the group, arrest him and take him to jail. The problem? By the time he was successfully able to radio for help he was already right outside the Indio jail. Request: "The rangers have been asking for (a new system) for years already," said Karen Schambach, a spokeswoman for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an environmental group that represents public employees who have environmental concerns. Radio interference from Mexico and a radio system that’s outdated and overused cause much of the radio problems. Rangers rely on cell phones, but that often means climbing the nearest hill to make a call because coverage in rural areas is usually poor. In a letter sent to OSHA on Dec. 14, BLM California District Manager Tim Salt acknowledged that the radio system is inadequate. "Law enforcement rangers are not provided adequate radio systems to obtain information and assistance from other officers," Salt stated. Salt did not indicate how the BLM plans to fix the problem, but BLM spokesman Doran Sanchez said the BLM plans to completely upgrade the district’s radio system during the next four years at a cost of $2 million to $4 million. PEER’s Schambach said the BLM has known about the problem for nearly 10 years. "They already have a state-of-the-art system designed for that area," she said. "It (costs) $2 million -- BLM is just not requesting it." The OSHA complaint refers specifically to Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area in Imperial County, which has tens of thousands of off-roading enthusiasts visiting on holiday weekends. Rowdy event: As in past years, this most recent Thanksgiving weekend was marred by several incidents at the dunes, including more than 30 arrests for disorderly conduct and multiple injury accidents. An estimated 190,000 people descended on the dunes during the weekend, a record. The BLM had about 40 rangers on detail that weekend. The BLM manages 11.5 million acres of land in Southern California. Monday, December 17, 2001
OSAMA'S ORDERS HEARD BY U.S. SPIES [Source: Daily Record] American eavesdroppers last night revealed they have intercepted radio transmissions by Osama bin Laden. The terror chief's distinctive voice has been heard giving orders to al-Qaeda troops in the battle raging in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan. Officials say the voice has been positively matched to known recordings of bin Laden. The broadcasts point to the world's most wanted man still being in the Tora Bora cave complexes or in nearby valleys. Experts say bin Laden knows the Americans will be able to listen in on any radio systems he uses. But they believe he may have judged he has no other choice if he wants to command his few remaining troops - thought to consist mostly of Chechens and Arabs. The electronic monitoring is being carried out by US special forces troops on the ground and by spy planes and satellites. "They have picked him up on very short-range radio," said a senior US official last night, adding that al-Qaeda soldiers have also been heard responding to their leader. For the past 10 days, American commander General Tommy Franks has focused virtually all his firepower on Tora Bora. Every day, B52 heavy bombers and Navy strike jets have dropped bombs on cave openings and bunkers. The remaining al-Qaeda units are in the mountains between two parallel valleys leading to Jalalabad in the north and toward the Pakistan border in the south. The Americans believe bin Laden is moving between the valleys with his troops. Pakistani army units are trying to block escape routes to the south. Anti-Taliban Eastern Alliance fighters, lured by a bounty of $25million for bin Laden and his aides, are trying to seal passages on the north, east and west. Still, officials have warned that there are many routes out of Tora Bora. As many as 1000 al-Qaeda fighters were last night said to be getting ready to quit after the days of relentless bombing and shelling . They have been pounded by American aircraft and Eastern Alliance tanks and artillery. Heavy air strikes continued last night in the White Mountains. There were huge explosions on ridges where bombs have not previously fallen, pointing to them being attacks on fleeing fighters.
Paramedics to ride with firetrucks on test basis [Source: Daily News] [Photo: Freq Of Nature] By Sabrina Decker  Ventura County Fire Squad 4 serving the city of Simi Valley As part of a continuing effort to pare down emergency response time, firetrucks responding to emergency calls in the city will soon have a paramedic riding with the rest of the crew, officials said Friday. As of January, Ventura County Fire Department trucks in Thousand Oaks will begin the pilot "medic-engine" program that could be expanded to Simi Valley and other areas, Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper said. The new program augments one put in place in February that allows ambulances to be dispatched directly by fire stations, rather than having the information relayed to the ambulance companies, cutting response time up to one minute, officials said. "What we're doing is just watching the data," Roper said. "The overall goal is to improve patient care. ... We saw there was room for improvement." Roper said the programs seek to address the fact that 80 percent of the emergency calls most fire stations receive are for medical emergencies. Thousand Oaks currently has two paramedics on its staff, as does neighboring Simi Valley. The paramedics are county Fire Department employees, not employees of the ambulances operators, and they do not usually accompany fire crews on every call. Roper said he wants to wait and see the workload for the "medic-engine" before he decides whether to expand this arm of the program to Simi Valley and other areas. Under the initial pilot program put in place in February, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley fire stations dispatch ambulances directly to the scene of medical emergencies. Roper got the idea for the program after seeing similar models being used in San Jose and the San Diego area. With the new system, participating ambulances have been able to arrive at the scene of a medical emergency about 30 seconds to one minute faster than before, Roper said. But so far the program has seen very little in the way of expansion. Of the three ambulance companies that contract with the county only Colorado-based American Medical Response agreed to participate, Roper said. AMR pays about $300,000 to the county to have the Fire Department handle its dispatching, Roper said. A spokesman for AMR would not confirm the cost. However, he said that the program has been a winning situation for the Fire Department, the ambulance company and the public. "In many instances, you end up going to the same calls," AMR Spokesman Mike Reynolds said. "You can react together, even if it's 30 seconds, you're coordinating everything, you don't need to get anyone up to speed ... this deal really enables us to work toward a common response time." |