Portable Radio Placement in the IDLH

By Chief Brian Wilbur, Ithaca Fire Department
PIO – NYSAFC Communications Committee
 
The study Portable Radio Placement in the IDLH by the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department, Communications Section; 1-2013 is likely to challenge assumptions of many in the fire service. To get to the point, let’s start with a quote from the study’s conclusion:

"By committing to sounding the alarms against the Bunker Gear Radio Pocket, the safety for firefighters is increased not only for an individual user, but the entire fire-ground."

The Executive Summary on page five of the Fairfax study sums it up nicely, as follows:

The issue regarding the placement of the portable radio while in IDLH firefighting operations has been long debated in the fire service. Most arguments center on the preference of the user or nebulous conjecture derived from documents or studies irrelevant to the placement of the portable radio in the IDLH. Some departments have gone so far as to develop policy dictating where firefighters will carry their radios when operating on the fire-ground. Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department released a General Order in 2009 mandating the turnout coat radio pocket as the only way to carry the radio. Montgomery County (MD) Fire & Rescue have a similar policy.

The Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Communications Section set out to thoroughly research the issue and determine the safest location and best practice for carrying the portable radio during firefighting operations. Research started with contacting radio engineers to determine the signal loss issues. Additionally, there was significant review of numerous local and distant close-call and Line of Duty Death (LODD) reports, interviews and correspondence with firefighters and officers who encountered problems with their radios on incidents and training, review of relevant studies and reports, and examination of users wearing the portable radios in different manners.

Due to significant safety issues revealed during training and previous close calls, the radio pocket, as currently designed or modified, should not be used. The critical issues are numerous, but center around three fundamental problems when placed in the bunker coat radio pocket: Radio ejection from the pocket when subjected to a floor drop simulator or simply bending over to perform tasks relevant to firefighting, Exposure of the Remote Speaker Mic (RSM) to thermal insult that has on numerous occasions, melted the cord, exposed the wires, thus shorting the radio in an open transmit situation, and finally, radio signal loss associated with being in the pocket, which can be as much as 30dB; the highest degree of loss in comparable methods of wearing the radio.

Wearing the portable radio on a leather strap, under the coat, but with the radio extended below the bottom of the coat with the antenna canted away from the body protects the RSM from thermal insult and subsequent melting, eliminates 50% of radio signal loss over the radio pocket, and prevents the radio from ejecting of the person. (emphasis supplied)

A web search for portable radio placement in the IDLH quickly provides a variety of commentary on this topic, as well as many sources for downloading the original report. Like so many topics in the fire service, there is no shortage of opinions. Much has already been written about this and this is pertinent to you as a member of the fire service.

Our purpose here is to point out that communications is no longer an "it is what it is" series of options. The more we learn, the more choices or options we find are available to us. The inherent hazards of our environment and the critical nature of communications demand that we make the best choices possible when deciding how we will operate on the fireground.