[Scan-DC] Firefighter radios did not work in tunne l dur ing Metro smoke incident ·

[Ed Tobias]

The problem, (at least one of them), seems to have been that the in-tunnel repeaters were out of service. That would have made it difficult, if not impossible, to communicate from tunnel to command post or along long stretches of tunnel. 

Montgomery used to send a Btl Chief to the Command Center at Metro Hq to help coordinate incidents. Not sure if they still do or if DC does that. 

The Rail70x units are, I believe, MCFD officers with specialized training for Metro incidents.   Don't confuse them with NCR70x units, who carry radio caches for use in major incidents involving multiple jurisdictions. 

Ed

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 13, 2015, at 10:29 PM, Jeff Krauss <jeff at krauss.ws> wrote:
> 
> After viewing the Fox5 piece by Paul Wagner, I'm sure you're correct.
> He said that the units in the tunnel couldn't communicate with the incident commander at street level.
> 
> Which means that the DCFD command structure was deficient.
> 
> If I recall, the Montgomery County FD procedure is to assign a "Forward Incident Commander" (they don't use that term) at the stationmaster's kiosk, whose job includes communications between units in the tunnel and the command post upstairs.
> 
> Also, when Montgomery County has a Metro incident, I hear units come up on the air identifying themselves as "Rail 704" and similar callsigns.  Not clear whether they are County FD employees or WMATA employees.  At least some of them seem to carry caches of radios to assist in radio communications between the fire department and Metro dispatchers.
> 
> 
> 
> At 08:07 PM 1/13/2015, djoneses wrote:
>> I would think that this quote from the Fox5 story answers your question:
>> "firefighters used line of sight communication in the tunnel."  Presumably
>> that means that simplex i.e. line of sight channels were used.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Scan-DC [mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jeff
>> Krauss
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 6:03 PM
>> To: FiveAlarm Photography; Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Firefighter radios did not work in tunnel dur ing
>> Metro smoke incident ·
>> 
>> Presumably this means that the portable radios could not reach the base
>> station.
>> Don't they have simplex channels for portable-to-portable comms for that
>> case?
>> 
>> 
>> At 05:54 PM 1/13/2015, FiveAlarm Photography wrote:
>> >*Sources: Firefighter radios did not work in
>> >tunnel during Metro smoke incident* ·
>> >o    *Updated: Jan 13, 2015 3:48 PM EST* *By
>> >MyFoxDC.com Web Producer* WASHINGTON -Two
>> >sources with knowledge of Monday's smoke
>> >incident on Metro tell FOX 5 that firefighter
>> >radios did not work inside the smoky tunnel near
>> >the L'Enfant Plaza station. Those sources tell
>> >FOX 5 antennas inside tunnel were not working
>> >and had not been for several days. Because of
>> >that outage, they say firefighters used line of
>> >sightcommunication
>> ><http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/27840370/sources-firefighter-radios-metro#>
>> >in the tunnel and cell phones to get information
>> >out.
>> >http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/27840370/sources-firefighter-radios-metro
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