Montgomery County Firefighters Discover Metro Radio Trouble
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- Fire officials in Montgomery County say they've discovered trouble using their radios in some portions of the Metro system, an issue that follows similar problems for District of Columbia firefighters.
A memo sent Saturday by a fire official who oversees emergency communications and technology for the county says bi-monthly testing found that portions of the Metro system's red line had "poor to non-existent" radio coverage. Battalion Chief Michael Baltrotsky wrote that the problem is in "segments of the below grade" red line system. That means firefighters will have "little to no radio coverage" in "tunnels and some below-grade stations," he wrote. The memo says there is no estimation on a time for complete repair.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said Monday that the issue was isolated to some areas of the Wheaton station including the north end of one platform. He said Metro is working to fix the problem and that the transit agency works constantly to fine tune radio communications throughout the system.
The issue discovered in Montgomery County comes on the heels of radio problems District of Columbia firefighters had during an incident Jan. 12 in which firefighters were called to rescue passengers stuck on a train in a tunnel near Metro's L'Enfant Plaza station. Officials were aware of radio problems reported at the station before the incident. Since the accident, Metro officials have said that the District of Columbia made changes to the radio system without its knowledge, leading to the difficulty. District officials have pushed back, saying the fact they moved to encrypted radios does not appear to have played a role in the difficulties fire officials experienced.
Montgomery County fire spokesman Pete Piringer says fire officials tested their own radios following the Jan. 12 incident and found them working properly. Piringer said he did not know what caused the latest problem.
Until the issue is fixed, firefighters are being told to use "radio relays," which involves positioning firefighters in a certain way to communicate messages.
Montgomery County has a total of 11 Metro stations in its jurisdiction, including eight stations on the red line.
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