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Radio problems hampered rescue efforts

BY WILLIAM MURPHY | Staff Writer

July 23, 2004

Fire officials had trouble turning on the signal booster system when they responded to the World Trade Center and wrongly believed it was not working, the Sept. 11 commission said.

The Fire Department kept the booster off when not in use because it interfered with transmissions on department radios, the commission said.

The commission found that the booster did not interfere with the department's new radios, a $14-million XTS-3500 Motorola system. However, more than 3,000 of those radios were pulled out of service in March after less than a week of use because they were not working properly.

While much of the commission's findings on the radios was buried deep in its report and in footnotes, it made clear that if the new radios had been in use, the booster could have been on at all times.

The commission did not say precisely how much communications were hampered by the problems with the booster, but said they were "not the primary cause of the many firefighter fatalities in the North Tower."

The families of some victims have blamed the radio system for deaths, saying many firefighters did not hear evacuation orders. However, the report said at least two dozen fire companies in the North Tower heard the order "either via radio or directly from other first responders."

Both Motorola and the Fire Department have defended the radios and the questionable way they were purchased by piggy-backing another Fire Department contract.

"The procurement process for these radios remains controversial, and they proved unpopular with the rank and file, who believed that adequate training in their use had not been provided," the commission said.

"While the new radios briefly were in service, the WTC repeater channel could be left on at all times, because the new radios operated on entirely different frequencies and thus were not vulnerable to interference from the repeater system," the report said.

A spokeswoman for Motorola declined to comment.

The Fire Department took complete responsibility for activating the booster system in 2000 when it asked that it be moved from the Port Authority police desk at the complex to the fire safety desks in the lobbies of each of the two towers, the report said.

On Sept. 11, a fire chief in the North Tower nevertheless asked unidentified "building personnel" to active the repeater, the report said.

One button was activated — it was unclear by whom — but a chief could not transmit because of technical problems or because the volume was turned down on the console, the report said.