Communications, Logistics Faulted by 9/11 Commission

NEW YORK, May 19 -- In the crucial minutes following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, fire officials failed to realize that they could dispatch firefighters more quickly to the South Tower of the World Trade Center, which may have reduced the number of people trapped inside when the tower fell, according to new findings released Wednesday morning by the commission investigating the attacks.

The North Tower had been hit by American Airlines Flight 11 at 8:46 a.m. United Airlines flight 175 slammed into the South Tower 17 minutes later.

Because of a lack of timely information after the second airplane hit, commanders dispatched new fire units to the South Tower instead of turning to units on hand in the North Tower.

As a result, the additional firefighters arrived later and, in many cases, were killed in the ensuing collapse of the South Tower at 9:59 a.m., the report said.

"If they had understood that units were still arriving at the North Tower or were already there but still in the lobby, they could have considered whether to reassign some of the units already at the scene to render immediate assistance in the South Tower," the staff wrote in an eight-page report.

"The decision to handle the South Tower by dispatching new units meant that the number of firefighters available to help evacuees in that tower was relatively small for at least the first 20 minutes after the tower was hit, though that number sadly was rising in the minutes before that tower collapsed."

This haunting conclusion is part of the latest report to be released by the panel, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, which is holding a second day of hearings Wednesday morning in Greenwich Village, about 1 1/2 miles from Ground Zero. Among those scheduled to testify are former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, current Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

The findings serve as a follow-up to a lengthier and more detailed report issued Tuesday, which, in addition to describing acts of heroism by emergency crews and trapped workers, also revealed widespread communication and organizational problems among New York fire and police agencies. The 10-member bipartisan panel was also sharply critical of New York's efforts to reform its emergency response system since then, including faulting a plan released by Bloomberg last week.

New York officials, who bristled at much of the criticism on Tuesday, are expected to continue their defense of both previous and current tactics in testimony today.

By contrast, the new commission report found that the emergency response to the attack on the Pentagon in Northern Virginia was "mainly a success," in large part because the Washington region and federal government had in place a clear command system that vested a significant amount of power in one entity: the Arlington County Fire Department. The county's fire chief, Edward P. Plaugher, is also slated to testify today.

But the commission report also cautioned that the "two experiences are not comparable" because of the sheer scale of the calamity at the World Trade Center, which, unlike the Pentagon, involved tens of thousands of potential victims and was far less contained.

The staff also found that authorities in the Washington area reported communication glitches and other problems that were similar to those reported by their New York City counterparts. In an "after-action report" by Arlington County, for example, officials described many of the same problems with radio channels and equipment that plagued firefighters and police at the World Trade Center.

"Almost all aspects of communications continue to be problematic, from initial notification to tactical operations," the Arlington report said, according to the commission. "Cellular telephones were of little value . . . . Radio channels were initially oversaturated . . . Pagers seemed to be the most reliable means of notification when available and used, but most firefighters are not issued pagers."

The commission's report concluded that "it is a fair inference, given the differing situations in New York City and Northern Virginia, that the problems in command, control, and communications that occurred at both sites will likely recur in any emergency of similar scale. The task looking forward is to enable first responders to respond in a coordinated manner with the best situational awareness possible."

The report recommends that New York adopt an "incident command" system to provide better coordination and control during major emergencies. Although New York officials testified Tuesday that Bloomberg's plan fits that definition, several commission members argued it may cause more problems than it solves.

John F. Lehman, a Republican former Navy secretary, called New York's response system "dysfunctional" and said it was "not worthy of the Boy Scouts, let alone this great city."