File 2 of LODD With Radio Involvement

Continuing - May 18, 1999 - 22 Jan 2000

#20 - 2/11/98 - 2 Chicago ffs dead in ?store fire - trapped in flashover/backdraft - no mention of radios - per NIOSH report

 #21 - 7/4/97 - Buffalo NY - 1 ff dead in house fire - per NIOSH report, MAYDAY was heard at fire stations but not at Fire Alarm nor by IC

 #22 - Wheeling WV - Asst Fire Chief died in ?commercial fire - ?radios failed

 #23 - ?1998 - Kansas City MO had ffs diving out windows at house fire - trunked radios failed to ?perform - ?lawsuits filed - ?mayor takes "responsibilty"

 #24 - Lynchburg VA has a controvery going about trunked radios - 2/99

 #25 - Chesapeake VA - March 18, 1996 - 2 firefighters died at a strip mall fire - per the big article in the August 1996 issue of Fire Engineering Mag : radio problems obviously played a major part in the death of the firefighters - there were problems with stuck microphones, doubling, people on wrong radio channels, and apparently the dispatchers could not hear anyone on the repeater output nor on the tactical channel. This type of poor radio system design occurs all the time and the people who pay for it are the people who need an effective radio system the most desperately. This type of tragedy is very similar to an airplane crash where a bunch of things all go wrong (in little ways) at the same time - with tragic results.

There is a NIOSH report on this fire also and it says pretty much the same stuff as the article in Fire Engineering. (The Chesapeake FD also did a report on the fire.) I saw one very interesting item in the NIOSH report - it said that NFPA recommends two in/two out who are linked via "audible, visual, OR electronic means". Apparently there is a major difference between NFPA and OSHA - OSHA does NOT allow the substitution of electronic means foe audible or visual links.

 #26 - Interstate Bank Bld - Los Angeles CA - May 1988 - severe radio channel congestion occurred at this fire - no ffs killed

 #27 - Schomberg Plaza Fire in Harlem in New York City, NY - March 1987 - 7 civilians dead - no ffs died - this is the fire where fire dispatchers did not relay reports of people trapped on the top floor of the highrise to the IC - I am sure if the radio channels were less congested that the messages would have been sent.

 #28 - Printing Office Bld fire - September 28, 1992 - Denver CO - 1 ff died - apparently the victim had no radio - he had to signal for help with a light - extreme difficulties occured when removing the victim via a window

 #29 - Brackenridge PA - December 20, 1991 - 4 firefighters died in a commercial bld - ?low band radios used (poor radio comms?)

 #30 - Philadelphia PA - 3 firefighters died - ?Meridian Hirise Bld - trapped firefighters reportedly called for help via portable radio from a floor above the fire yet fellow firefighters could not reach them in time to save them - I wonder if there were tremendous congestion problems on the ?3 simplex tactical radio channels that Philly had at that time

#31 - New York City NY - June 5, 1994 - Lieut became lost in basement of warehouse - his mayday call was covered up by other radio traffic and the noise from power saws - he died 1 month later from smoke inhalation

#32 - NYC NY - June 5, 1998 - 2 firefighters died in sudden floor collapse at a house fire - NIOSH report cites stuck microphone and lack of alert signal - these problems occurred after the collapse - alert tone would probably just cover up more transmissions - what is needed is radios that cannot double and that can be remotely controlled - all of this technology is available but no one realizes what the problem is (never mind knowing what the solution is). Perhaps, if a decent radio system existed, firefighters would have been better able to relay reports about conditions in the building and escaped before the collapse.

#33 - April 6, 1999 - 2 firefighters killed in Cranston KY after they were overrun by a forest fire - May 1999 issue of Firehouse Magazine states "Reports indicate that the two sent out a radio signal for help, but died before help arrived." 9/1/99 - I just read an article from a KN newspaper - it had a brief review of a critique done on this incident - apparently 2 radio messages were received from the firefighters - the first said that their leaf blower ran out of gas - then they called for help and said that they were being burnt as the fire overran them. (I may not have this exactly correct - perhaps there were 3 radio messages). Also mentioned was the fact that the VFDs had tried to get a weather forecast but were unable to do so. No further details on this angle - the Natl WX Service does have nationwide WX broadcasts on 162Mhz.

#34 - October 29, 1998 - One Arkansas Forestry Commission bulldozer operator killed by burnover - NIOSH report mentions that weak batteries in portable radio caused radio to hop channels and delayed the evacuation call - too much bulldozer noise made radio comms nearly impossible. I ssem to recall that bulldozer noise has caused other radio messages to be missed and contributed to operator's burns.

#35 - October 12, 1998 - ?St Louis MO - 1 firefighter nearly killed in hirise fire - NIOSH report released on Feb 21, 1999 - recommendation to record all fireground radio traffic in order to facilitate post-incident investigations (not to mention rapidly replaying urgent MAYDAY messages which may be transmitted too quickly for anyone to catch).

#36 - ?5/99 ?Lake Worth TX - 3 ff killed in roof collapse at church fire - ?7/31/99 newspaper article in Fort Worth major rag - radios possibly played a role in deaths - difficult to use in masks - possibly ffs were not aware of rapid fire spread cause they couldnt hear their radios - they were probably all on different radio channels anyhow

#37 - August 29, 1998 - Marks MS - 2 firefighters died when sections of a strip mall fell on them during interior firefighting operations - they did not have portable radios and could not call for help.

#38 - November 6, 1998 - Thorofare near Goldsboro NC - 2 interior firefighters died inside a auto salvage building - portable radios were earlier reported to be "scratchy" (difficult to receive due to poor radio propagation out of a steel clad building) - (?weak batteries - ?bad antennas - ?poor usage)

#39 - January 19, 1999 - Syracuse NY - chimney falls on and kills fire investigator - none of 3 people at scene had a radio - 1 person had to run to a neighboring building to call 911

#40 - Santa Barbara CA - on the Los Padres National Forest - 1 firefighter/EMT found dead in rough terrain - he had been operating as a roving medic - he was radio equipped on a ?medical net to the medical unit leader - I would suggest that a radio test be conducted to see if radio comms can be completed between the spot where the body was found and the spot where the medical unit radio was located. (this can be greatly affected by body location and portable radio antenna location in addition to other radio factors)

#41 - Lake County CA - ?June 1999 - young firefighter overhauling a brush fire steps on a known and marked electrical line - unknown if he had a radio - perhaps if he had a radio there would have been some chatter to remind him to stay away from the wire

#42 - McCulloch (Clarksville) IN - September 16, 1999 - female firefighter run over by fire truck at grass fire and killed - she was not found for ?30 minutes after the accident occurred - if she had a portable radio with her, could she have called for help and survived her injuries?

#43 - Kiln MS - January 5, 1999 - firefighter struck and killed while directing traffic at night without flashlight - if he had a portable radio could someone have warned him to watch out?

#43A - Warminster PA on 11/13/99 - same situation AS #43

#44 - Hamby Bridge NC - May 21, 1999 - driver killed as engine goes off road while returning to quarters - was he distracted by static on the radio or nonrelevant radio traffic?

#45 - Augalize Township OH - September 13, 1999 - firefighter killed while responding to fire station when his car collided with a dump truck - was he receiving timely updates on the emergency call via radio? - was he distracted by his pager?

#46 - Midwest City OK - August 8, 1999 - firefighter struck while standing on highway - did they have the capability to talk directly to police units in order to set up effective traffic control?

#47 - River Falls SC - September 30, 1999 - firefighter hit by tractor trailer at accident scene - same as 43 and 46

#48 - Tarentum PA - November 3, 1999 - firefighter falls out of bucket seat while responding to a emergency call and is killed - I think it was a needless call - was this info relayed by radio in a timely manner in order to slow down the responding units?

#49 - Junction City CA firefighter killed by water tender during wildfire near Redding CA - October 16, 1999 - if she had a portable radio could she have signalled the driver to stop before he hit her? - if other nearby firefighters had portable radios on useable radio channels could they have contacted the driver of the water tender? - if the commercial radio stations were able to broadcast the info that they heard on their scanners (instead of waiting for useless info from PIOs) would this have kept more of the public out of the area and greatly cut down on traffic congestion?

#50 - Texas City TX - October 5, 1999 - 1 captain killed and 1 firefighter critically injured as engine collides with private vehicle in an intersection - the engine was enroute to a EMS call - was their proper coordination with EMS units via radio? - Did the radio distract the engine driver as they went thru the intersection?

#51 - Elliott MS - November 7, 1999 - same as #45

#52 - firefighters killed in crashes - 12/18/99 Chesterfield Co VA + 12/15/99 Zwolle LA + 12/10/99 Fallston MD + 11/14/99 Pleck TX + 11/4/99 Scipio Twp/LaPorte IN - all of these might have similar radio problems to items #45 and #51

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#53 - Worcester MA - December 3, 1999 - 6 firefighters killed in warehouse fire - I was told that all radio comms were clear during this incident - I do not know how much doubling occurred - I believe that 4 talkgroups were used at the height of the fire on the city's trunked radio system - there were newspaper reports that multiple messages were passed from the lost firefighters to the people searching for them - obviuosly no one had the capability to track down the lost firefighters based on the location of their radio signals

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Worcester Update - October 2000 - NIOSH releases report - some radio messages were received from trapped/lost firefighters - activations of emergency buttons apparently interfered with the dispatcher's ability to transmit

The Esquire Magazine article mentions at least 1 MAYDAY message that the IC missed

September 2000 - charity ice hockey game played to raise funds for firefighter safety equipment - apparently they still do not have enough portable radios to equip every onduty firefighter - of the 6 firefighters who died, I believe that only 2 had portable radios (which apparently means that 1 team of 2 lost firefighters had no portable radio)

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#54 - Kansas City MO - December 18, 1999 - battalion chief dies when lost in large warehouse - there was radio contact with him when he was lost/disoriented - see #53

#55 - New York City NY - Queens house fire - floor collapsed without warning - ?2 firefighters killed. Was their really no warning? Or was a warning message lost due to doubling on the portable radio frequency? FDNY does not tape record radio traffic on this radio channel.

#56 - Missouri - January 2000 - Fire Chief killed when he crashed his pumper enroute to a mutual aid call - he was alone in the rig. Newspaper article hints that he was not really needed at the fire scene. Was this info lost due to poor radio comms?

#57 - Houston TX - Feb 2000 - 2 firefighters killed fighting a fire at McDonalds - just at the time that the evacuation order was given, apparently the roof mounted air conditioning unit fell down on the firefighters. I wonder if they missed the evacuation order due to radio problems?

#58 - Illinois - March 2000 - FF falls thru roof of burning bld - not missed for a while

#59 - Memphis TN - 8 March 2000 noon - 2 FF killed in shotgun ambush - ?lack of coordination between police and fire dispatch and radio systems?

Manchester NH - December 2000 - FF Anderson dies of heart attack while trying to rescue 2 teenagers from a house fire - were there any radio problems? - was ventilation effective - was it coordinated by radio with the hoseline attack teams?

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Updated - 31Dec00 - Manch NH

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