[Scan-DC] York Co PA fire communication failure

[Alan Henney]

York Daily Record (Pennsylvania)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

April 17, 2009 Friday

911 investigates fire communication failure

BYLINE: Mike Hoover, York Daily Record, Pa.

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS

LENGTH: 946 words


Apr. 17--An investigation is under way into why the county's new 911
emergency communication system failed to alert some firefighters to a
blaze that destroyed the home of a Dover Township woman and her six
children late Wednesday night.

Representatives from two York County fire companies said they were
unaware of the initial call just before 11 p.m. because the county's
new emergency paging system did not work.

Firefighters had to find out through the old paging system, by
listening to scanner traffic or by being contacted about the emergency
by phone, which delayed their response to the call in the 3500 block
of West Canal Road, they said.

Eric Bistline, the executive director of York County Emergency
Services, said he is baffled at

Previous stories:

--Fire companies want refund

--911 lawsuit: Now vs. later

--Chronister: 911 system also has 'user problem'

--County signs on to await 911 fix

--FOPs file complaint against 911 system

--York County 911: Back to the past?

--911 system has flaws, some responders say

--Nov. 8, 2008: County 911 switches to digital

--Feb. 28, 2008: Storm spurs action

what happened.

A preliminary investigation at the 911 center showed a text page went
out to fire companies Wednesday night, but Bistline later learned from
firefighters Thursday morning that they never got the message.

"It is very puzzling," Bistline said.

Communication and radio technicians are checking operations at the 911
center and several transmission sites designed to send the page, he
said.

"Nothing is infallible. I wish I could say it was," Bistline said.
"This stuff is wireless technology. It is not 100 percent. Things will
go wrong, but they will go wrong a lot less with the new system."

As he inspected the damage today, Dover Township Fire Chief Wayne
Latchaw -- the incident commander -- said he did not believe the
communication snafu hampered firefighting efforts. He said he believed
had enough manpower and equipment to fight the fire, which was knocked
down in 20 minutes.

Dover Township was one of the few companies that received a text page
sent with the new radio system and was out of the station within a
minute, Latchaw said. About 15 minutes into the fire, he said, he
began to hear some firefighters complaining about problems with the
pagers.

While concerned, Latchaw said he kept his focus on firefighting
efforts. He said firefighters were fortunate this time because the
malfunction didn't make a difference with the fire. But he said he is
concerned about the next time, when a few minutes may mean the
difference between life and death.

"That's a big concern," he said.

Increasingly, the county has been under pressure by police, fire and
other emergency service providers to fix the problems with the new,
$36 million 911 radio system.

Workers from system manufacturer M/A-COM and parent company Tyco
Electronics have been working out glitches, Bistline said. The known
glitches include lost or garbled transmissions.

Some of the county fire departments are using the old, analog system,
while others such as Dover

Township rely completely on the new text paging system.

County Commissioner Doug Hoke said the public has the right to demand
accountability.

"If there was a breakdown of the system and it had an effect on
emergency response times, I certainly want to know what happened and
what is being done to correct this," Hoke said. "People rely on this
system. The county has a responsibility to make sure it is working
properly."

West Manchester Township Fire Chief David Nichols said there was a
three-minute delay in notifying his department's firefighters of the
call. He said the new text paging system did not go off at all, and he
had to rely on his old pager.

"This wasn't the first time we had a problem with an alert," Nichols
said.

Joe Stevens, fire chief at the Union Fire Co. in Manchester, said he
was "angry" and "disgusted" that the new pagers did not go off. He
said firefighters were unaware they were needed to help at the call in
Dover Township until someone overheard some scanner traffic.

The on-duty supervisor had to call firefighters on their cell phones
to make sure there was enough manpower to send a crew, Stevens said. A
crew with just four firefighters went out the door when, Stevens said,
he would have been more comfortable with six.

Stevens said he will tell his firefighters to carry both pagers from
the old and new alert system until the problems can be worked out. He
said he is also considering activating the old 1940s siren atop the
fire hall to send an air-raid-like blast to get firefighters to
respond.

"I have to rely on 1940s technology and my big old fire siren to get
my guys out of bed. Something is wrong there," Stevens said.

"The whole system is hanging by a threat because the new pagers didn't
work. This is suppose to be the best thing since sliced bread. We keep
hearing that. But it is not working to its full potential."

THE FIRE

Carol Cousins and her six children have been displaced and are staying
with relatives after the fire at their home in Dover Township.

The fire caused an estimated $200,000 in damage, Dover Township Fire
Chief Wayne Latchaw said.

The state police fire marshal has been asked to help establish a
cause, Latchaw said, but the fire is not believed to be suspicious.

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