9/11 Five Years Later: How 9/11 Altered FDNY’s Emergency Communications
As a result of this nation’s single worst terrorist act, which occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) was mandated to take major steps to improve and enhance its communications procedures, equipment and infrastructure.
Following this horrific event, many statements were made during interviews and critiques, including a report generated by McKinsey & Company that emphasized failures in communications. Many of these failures did affect the department’s operation. However, since that day, FDNY has made significant strides in improving and enhancing communications capabilities at each of the department’s facilities.
Example: At the central offices of Fire Communications and Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD), direct tie lines to NYPD have been installed, allowing direct notification of and information exchange with the NYPD liaison.
New EOC & Radios
A state-of-the-art fire department operations center (FDOC) has been constructed and put into full operation at FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. The FDOC has many functions, including acting as a critical point for contacting other agencies. The personnel assigned to the FDOC are responsible for updating and making notifications to the fire department’s senior staff. The center is also capable of facilitating the activation of the department’s incident management teams. Other capabilities include access to NYPD direct-video transmissions, Department of Transportation digital photographs, video teleconferencing and on-scene live video footage from media helicopters and ground vehicles. The center can monitor, record and replay radio transmissions for Fire and EMS, NYPD, OEM and other agencies. With these improvements, the center can serve as an off-site command post.
The department has also deployed new handie-talkie radios for field use. These radios have been configured with new features, such as an increased number of radio frequencies, allowing the department to install eight interoperability (I/O) frequencies channels into the new portables and the department’s Mobile Command Center (MCC). When the incident commander and/or EMS chief activate the I/O frequencies, members can communicate with each other at an incident. For example, a CFR-D company can receive and transmit information to and from a responding EMS unit. The system also allows FDNY to communicate with members of the NYPD. The MCC is also equipped with the JPS ACU-1000 radio system. It allows for interoperability among agencies that may have been deployed into the incident.
Prior to 9/11, FDNY resources that were operating on scene could not communicate with NYC resources. The ACU technology allows radio frequencies to be programmed and then utilized jointly. The MCC can also transmit a live video and data feed to FDOC.The implementation of interoperability has been very successful, and it is currently being used on a regular basis.
The new portables have provided responding FDNY resources with a means of communicating that was not available to them prior to 9/11. EMS chief officers can now monitor and transmit on fire dispatch and fire ground frequencies. And EMS supervisors can monitor and transmit on the fire ground frequency. These additional capabilities have provided FDNY with additional operational and functional tools to communicate.
Citywide 2
EMS has also been a beneficiary of the enhanced radio frequencies. In August 2004, the Citywide (C/W) 2 frequency went “live.” This additional radio frequency has allowed FDNY EMS to improve its dispatch capabilities when dealing with assignments that were previously handled solely on C/W 1. They include, but are not limited to, special events (either as a separate frequency from C/W1 or a command channel), such as the NYC Marathon or Five Borough Bike Tour, large MCIs, events involving multiple staging areas (e.g., subway jobs with multiple evacuation sites and bridge and tunnel jobs when more than one borough is involved), and when multiple assignments are being handled on C/W 1.
The activation of the C/W 2 frequency has allowed the EMD Citywide Dispatch supervisor (captain) and the EMS Medical Branch directors (field supervisors and/or chiefs) to manage some communications issues that surfaced after 9/11. The portable radios have an emergency button that transmits a beacon tone to help locate FDNY personnel on scene. On the EMS side, this tone is then interfaced with the EMS CAD and displayed on the radio dispatchers’ screens. When a unit presses its emergency button, that unit is identified on the dispatcher’s screen. Each transmission from a unit is stored and entered into the database. The EMS CAD system provides a unique identification for each portable and mobile radio.
Improved Field Operations
Some additional field operations enhancements include the distribution of post radios, portable radio suitcases (Kenwood UHF TK8150) that transmit at 45 watts. The radios are used at major events and also provide the capabilities of a portable repeater. The post radio enables portable radio transmission throughout the largest high-rise buildings in New York City with rare exceptions. The incident commander in the lobby of a high-rise can now transmit a message to anyone with a portable radio on the top floors of the city’s tallest buildings. A second post radio on the upper floors allows transmission back to the lobby. Battalion cars have portable repeaters installed.
Infrastructure has also been addressed. The department continues to make advancements in the installation of repeaters in many NYC subway stations, the Queens/Mid-Town and Brooklyn Battery tunnels. Recently, in conjunction with FDNY and the Durst Building Management (4 Times Square), an in-house repeater was installed. And 7 WorldTrade Center is in the development stages of installing the same system. The high-rise building repeater site location is an ongoing project.
An additional advancement in EMD has been the installation of an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system. AVL is combined with the EMS CAD and updates a unit’s current location and provides recommendations to the radio dispatcher in identifying the most appropriate and closest unit to a particular assignment. AVL utilizes GPS technology and street-level mapping to pinpoint the longitude, latitude and course direction of all EMS vehicles. AVL use has improved EMS response times by approximately 33 seconds.
In addition to the FDNY 400-MHz (UHF) system, EMD and fire dispatch operations currently use a separate 800-MHz trunked system. Improvements are being made to combine and enhance this trunked system. FDNY and NYC DOITT (Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications) are aggressively involved in this project.
Another improvement is the use of cellular phones. Prior to 9/11, FDNY possessed about 30 Nextel phones. Today, the department maintains an inventory of approximately 550 phones. Nextel phones have become more involved in our daily operations. They have been distributed to EMS conditions cars, FDNY special operations units (e.g., Marine Bureau, Haz-Mat, Fire Prevention) and all fire battalion and division vehicles.
Currently, DOITT, FDNY and NYPDare involved in a high-level project to establish a Public Safety Answering Center (PSAC1).The objective is to combine the receiving and processing of calls for emergency and dispatching of emergency vehicles in an efficient manner. This project focuses on all aspects of communications: improving the technology of radio communications, cellular use, satellites and infrastructure, and maintaining redundancies in the event of a catastrophic incident.
Never Forget
FDNY has made some major improvements in communications. However, we need to continue to evaluate and employ new technology as it becomes available. As we all know, 9/11 was a day this nation will never forget. The words “We Will Never Forget” continue to be written on banners, stickers, posters, T-shirts and patches — and in our hearts.
About the Author
Jace P. Pinkus is chief in charge of Emergency Medical Dispatch, Bureau of Communications, for the Fire Department of New York. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected].
Originally published in Public Safety Communications, 72(9):28-30, September 2006.