Batboard

Here we are at 6 Years
WTC casualties: 2,752
Including 403 1st Responder Fire and Police Officers many of which contined the evacuation knowing a collapse was inevitable.

343 FDNY Firefighters
37 Port Authority of NY & NJ Police Officers
23 NYPD Police Officers

Plus those cut down by post incident ailments.

Let us not forget those that perished at the Pentagon and especially those that perished on Flight 93 @ Shanksville, PA

A moment of silence is in order for all. . . .

Too many people are forgetting the events of 9/11 and associate only the WTC site with 9/11 . . . . . .

Tony
(First responder for Flight 93 @ Shanksville, PA)
Crew of Command Post 900 (Fayette County EMA/HAZMAT Team-assisting Somerset County EMA on 9/11/01)

I agree about remembering all the 9/11 sites and events. Lets also not forget that the WTC is the last place on earth some of the 9/11 victims were know to be at that were never found. The WTC has the unfortunate unique distinction of being considered by many as the grave site for the unrecovered dead.

While watching CNN's coverage, long-form, I was struck by how many firefighters at the WTC site kept stopping to stare at their handhelds.

Where the footage includes ambient audio, you could hear weak and fragmented signals, lots of yelling and background noise.

We later would learn of rampant problems with the communications system(s) for that locale. I'm sure some of the blame goes to the complex nature of "trunking," compared to a simple base & repeater system with a constellation of receivers.

While watching the 9/11 documentary (filmed by the two French filmakers) I noticed firefighters holding radios above their heads, transit cops screaming into their HTs, lots of messages that ran along the lines of, "Batallion 7, Do you copy, k?" and the ever present MDC squak.

I read chunks of the 9/11 report that cited communication issues and the NY Times has lots of the fire radio tapes posted on line. I can only hope that the millions spent in the aftermath included substantial improvments to the infastructure.

It was obviously mass confusion and the communication system was unable to cope.

Watching it all again, 5 years later, I am struck by the scope of the disaster and how simply overwhelming it all was.

My thoughts and prayers are still with all those who lost a life...or a loved one on 9/11.

Updated and bumped

RIP to all those who perished and dedicated everything to save our lives.

I still remember clearly that day events...what time I reported to school that time. How I saw the teacher's face sunk, and classmates being called by the principal's office because their parent(s) worked at the center.

If it was to happen again the communications would be the same. This is because the leaders are getting money and favors from the big radio companies and do whatever they tell them. Nothing has changed except for some crossband repeaters that de-sense each other which everybody knows are a joke. I feel bad for public employees.

Steve

RIP to those who perished.


Never Forget 9/11/01