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Team 4: Some First Responders Having Communication Breakdowns
The following is a transcript of a report by Paul Van Osdol that first aired May 1, 2008, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Pittsburgh's City Center was evacuated as a precaution, but as traffic crawled out, many local police and firefighters were not able to talk to each other.
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Team 4: Some First Responders Having Communication BreakdownsSix years and millions of dollars later, first responders in the Pittsburgh area are still having communication breakdowns.During the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, police tried to warn firefighters that the towers were about to collapse, but the firefighters could not hear them.In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina knocked out emergency communication all over the Gulf Coast, keeping rescuers from finding thousands of people desperately trying to survive.In December 2005, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Joe Pokorny was shot dead after pulling over a car in Carnegie. Pokorny had tried to call for backup, but Carnegie police did not hear him.All three of the tragedies share one common fact: Emergency communications systems failed because police and fire agencies, often neighbors or in the same municipality, couldn't talk to each other."As we have seen sharply in Katrina or 9/11 in New York, when communications fail, people can die," said Glenn Cannon of FEMA.In western Pennsylvania, many police and firefighters continue to use old radios and patchwork communication systems."We still have the approach that made sense when Benjamin Franklin was creating fire departments, where every department works for itself, and that just isn't going to work anymore," said Carnegie Mellon University wireless technology expert Jon Peha.Firefighters in Turtle Creek use a low-band radio system to communicate in their area. But if they want to talk to their neighbors in Braddock, they need a different radio. And if they want to talk to their neighbors in Wilmerding, they need yet another radio.And if there are other departments at a scene, "It could be totally another radio altogether," said Lou Lantzy, Turtle Creek's emergency coordinator. "Don't have the radios."The radios they do have are 20 years old, but Turtle Creek can't afford to replace them."Our company alone, you're probably talking $30,000, $40,000," said Lantzy.Not only are the radios outdated, but Turtle Creek is also not on Allegheny County's 911 system. They are one of 31 county municipalities whose police or fire departments are not on county 911, which makes communications even more difficult.Rankin police Sgt. David Grimes said he can't hear his own officers, let alone officers in nearby Braddock.The two small police departments rely on each other for backup. But they're on different frequencies, so talking to each other is not easy."In order for us to get to Braddock, we have to go far down," said Grimes, who also said it could mean the difference between life or death.At the county 911 center, operators can link up different communities that are unable to communicate. They also can monitor the state police radio, a change since the Pokorny murder. But the center manager admits the system could be much better.In a perfect world, Steven Haberman of Allegheny County 911 said he would like to have "everyone under one system or a similar system and Allegheny County being able to talk to all of them and them being able to intercommunicate with each other."The state is actually building such a communication system. One of the towers is located off the turnpike in Westmoreland County. It's a state-of-the-art network that will cost $360 million to finish. But there's one problem. It's been designed only for state police, PennDOT and other state agencies. Local first responders will not be able to use it."It doesn't make sense," said Lantzy. "You're talking all that money just to help one group versus the whole group. If it's a statewide thing, it should help everybody.""Our system was just not designed for that capacity," said DEP secretary of statewide radio Charles Brennan. "It was a system designed to save the state a lot of money, because all these state agencies had different systems.""Which means we spend a lot of money for double infrastructure, and it doesn't do everything we want it to do," said Peha.Even worse, the statewide radio system is years behind schedule and nearly $200 million over budget. It was started in 1996. State officials blame unforeseen problems like the difficulty of locating towers.Since Sept. 11, 2001, there's been talk about building a national radio network for first responders. But that has not gotten off the ground.To build a countywide radio system in Allegheny County would cost $60 million, but the county doesn't have the money.In the late 1990s, the county borrowed $25 million to upgrade radios, but the money ended up being spent on other things. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato RespondsOn Friday, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said he wants all the county's first responders to be able to talk to each other."We've been slowly bridging the existing equipment, but the goal is to get everybody on the same system as we do the transfer over," he said.To do so, Onorato said state and federal grant money would be necessary.
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On Sept. 11, 2001, Pittsburgh's City Center was evacuated as a precaution, but as traffic crawled out, many local police and firefighters were not able to talk to each other.
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Team 4: Some First Responders Having Communication BreakdownsSix years and millions of dollars later, first responders in the Pittsburgh area are still having communication breakdowns.During the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, police tried to warn firefighters that the towers were about to collapse, but the firefighters could not hear them.In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina knocked out emergency communication all over the Gulf Coast, keeping rescuers from finding thousands of people desperately trying to survive.In December 2005, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Joe Pokorny was shot dead after pulling over a car in Carnegie. Pokorny had tried to call for backup, but Carnegie police did not hear him.All three of the tragedies share one common fact: Emergency communications systems failed because police and fire agencies, often neighbors or in the same municipality, couldn't talk to each other."As we have seen sharply in Katrina or 9/11 in New York, when communications fail, people can die," said Glenn Cannon of FEMA.In western Pennsylvania, many police and firefighters continue to use old radios and patchwork communication systems."We still have the approach that made sense when Benjamin Franklin was creating fire departments, where every department works for itself, and that just isn't going to work anymore," said Carnegie Mellon University wireless technology expert Jon Peha.Firefighters in Turtle Creek use a low-band radio system to communicate in their area. But if they want to talk to their neighbors in Braddock, they need a different radio. And if they want to talk to their neighbors in Wilmerding, they need yet another radio.And if there are other departments at a scene, "It could be totally another radio altogether," said Lou Lantzy, Turtle Creek's emergency coordinator. "Don't have the radios."The radios they do have are 20 years old, but Turtle Creek can't afford to replace them."Our company alone, you're probably talking $30,000, $40,000," said Lantzy.Not only are the radios outdated, but Turtle Creek is also not on Allegheny County's 911 system. They are one of 31 county municipalities whose police or fire departments are not on county 911, which makes communications even more difficult.Rankin police Sgt. David Grimes said he can't hear his own officers, let alone officers in nearby Braddock.The two small police departments rely on each other for backup. But they're on different frequencies, so talking to each other is not easy."In order for us to get to Braddock, we have to go far down," said Grimes, who also said it could mean the difference between life or death.At the county 911 center, operators can link up different communities that are unable to communicate. They also can monitor the state police radio, a change since the Pokorny murder. But the center manager admits the system could be much better.In a perfect world, Steven Haberman of Allegheny County 911 said he would like to have "everyone under one system or a similar system and Allegheny County being able to talk to all of them and them being able to intercommunicate with each other."The state is actually building such a communication system. One of the towers is located off the turnpike in Westmoreland County. It's a state-of-the-art network that will cost $360 million to finish. But there's one problem. It's been designed only for state police, PennDOT and other state agencies. Local first responders will not be able to use it."It doesn't make sense," said Lantzy. "You're talking all that money just to help one group versus the whole group. If it's a statewide thing, it should help everybody.""Our system was just not designed for that capacity," said DEP secretary of statewide radio Charles Brennan. "It was a system designed to save the state a lot of money, because all these state agencies had different systems.""Which means we spend a lot of money for double infrastructure, and it doesn't do everything we want it to do," said Peha.Even worse, the statewide radio system is years behind schedule and nearly $200 million over budget. It was started in 1996. State officials blame unforeseen problems like the difficulty of locating towers.Since Sept. 11, 2001, there's been talk about building a national radio network for first responders. But that has not gotten off the ground.To build a countywide radio system in Allegheny County would cost $60 million, but the county doesn't have the money.In the late 1990s, the county borrowed $25 million to upgrade radios, but the money ended up being spent on other things. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato RespondsOn Friday, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said he wants all the county's first responders to be able to talk to each other."We've been slowly bridging the existing equipment, but the goal is to get everybody on the same system as we do the transfer over," he said.To do so, Onorato said state and federal grant money would be necessary. Related Links:
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