[Scan-DC] Fw: Amazing Report from Prince William County on the death of Firefighter Wilson

[Charley Armstrong]

To be clear, the death of the FF Wilson was not due to a radio system
failure.  Like all accidents, there are a series of failures that are causal
factors that led to his death.  In fact, FF Wilson was in radio contact with
personnel at the scene, was able to communicate his distress, and did
everything that he was trained to do in the situation that he found himself.
Tragically the rapid advancement of the fire prevented his rescue/escape.  

The report identifies several problem areas with radio communications.  A
major theme of the report focuses on the effects of water on the speaker and
mic elements of radio units and the extended speaker/mics.  Water and water
fog entering the openings for the mic and the speaker on the radio casing,
and the extended s/m caused distortion of the both the transmitted and
received audio signals.  The test noted that when the water is shaken out,
the audio improved.  We know that firefighting takes place in the harshest
of conditions.  Problems in this area are not new, and I am surprised that
practical solutions to this problem have not been identified (or
implemented.) Replacing the extended s/m with a solution that can function
in all likely conditions (including when the user is masked up) needs to be
implemented immediately.  Sounds like a business opportunity to me. 

The report also noted that the radios performed better when worn outside of
the FF's protective gear - possibly leading to out of range indications.
This makes total sense because heavy clothing/gear and the proximity of the
antenna to your body degrades the performance of the radio.  This is why
radio holsters position the radio several inches from the user's body.  It's
all about the antenna.

One recommendation of the report is to ensure that every FF gets a radio.
While that sounds great, there are both technical and human factor problems
with that idea. Another reason why there were so many "bonks" was because
multiple personnel were trying to transmit at the same time - which is
natural in an emergency situation when the adrenaline is flowing.  Before
trunking, everybody just stepped on each other - but the result was the
same.  A partial solution is to have crew members immediately switch to a
talkaround channel, and have command elements remain on the TAC channel.
Another fix is to add more frequency pairs to the system.  I found it
interesting that they could not definitively identify why there were so many
"bonks."  I guess the system doesn't log all events. 

In the longer term APCO, the NFPA, NIST and OSHA need to develop a
comprehensive standard for radios and communications systems used in the
fire service.  Governments need to specify that the equipment they buy meet
or exceed these standards. Radios/systems adversely affected in any way by
environmental or human factors should not be accepted.

CA
Annapolis

  
-----Original Message-----
From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of MTC Communications
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 9:14 AM
To: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Scan-DC] Fw: Amazing Report from Prince William County on the
death of Firefighter Wilson



This is recommended reading.  While over 300 pages, the longer version is
has the most radio information. They really did a great job of putting all 
of the
information together.  It is a wonder that other firefighters have not died
under similar circumstances in this area. I believe several firemen died in
Philadelphia a year ago.  In my opinion they did not come up with good 
solutions to the
radio problems.

Mike



http://www.pwcgov.org/default.aspx?topic=040026000110004566 
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