We’ve not adequate addressed the questions – the lessons learned, or, more to the point, the lessons not learned, about communications from the 9/11 attacks. For the moment, we’d like to return to the issue of the non-functioning handheld Motorola radios used by FDNY members that day.
They didn’t work – in a number of ways, which we’ll demonstrate in a series of posts, this being the first. Please don’t assume it as proven; we’re confident that the record amply demonstrates that, and we’ll be providing excerpts and links from the record as we proceed.
From Radio Silence: FDNY, by FDNY Battalion Chief John Joyce and Bill Bowen:
There is another point that does not go unnoticed by the firefighters, officers and chiefs of the FDNY in watching that footage. ((Footage taken at or near Ground Zero on the morning of September 11th, 2001.)) At one point, after both planes had struck the World Trade Center you can see Commissioner Von Essen in the lobby of the building. As the Fire Commissioner, he had no command position at a fire scene, and was merely observing what was happening. Those he commands are all over the huge lobby making ready to go up into the towers. A person approaches Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen and says to him, “Tommy, there are reports another plane is on the way.”
Commissioner Von Essen can then be seen heading out of the building almost right away and in the remaining footage it is clear Von Essen made his exit. perhaps to the firefighters who already dislike Von Essen this is more significant than to the public. The firefighters, who were no doubt frightened and not sure what was happening made their way up into those towers to save lives and help people. Thomas Von Essen made his way out of the building after hearing a new warning, which the firefighters never heard.
Perhaps unfairly, to those firefighters who saw that footage and virtually all New York firefighters did see that footage, it was just one more item about Von Essen that lowered their opinion of the man.
NB: From Motorola.com “The XTS®3500 portable radio is no longer manufactured, however accessories and replacement parts may be available.” From the page XTS® 3500 Digital Portable Radio – Motorola USA. ((Page accessed 3 September, 2009).