‘Faulty’ Radio Put Firefighters In Danger

Four East Cleveland (Ohio) firefighters were forced to bail out of the second story of a vacant home last week after their portable radio call for water wasn’t heard by the pump operator, and flames nearly cut off their escape route. Fire officials say two firefighters fell 15 feet into a side yard, while the other two crawled onto the front porch roof and were rescued by colleagues with a ladder. One firefighter was taken to a hospital but later released. Fire officials said a faulty radio may have contributed to the problem. In fact, video of the radios shows that East Cleveland is using a business grade model of Motorola radios. More significantly, the two pictured radios both had major antenna damage that appears to have occurred from use before the fire, not during the incident itself. The city’s mayor says new radios have already been purchased and will be put into service immediately. He didn’t explain why the new radios hadn’t been distributed earlier. View the radios and watch a video after the break.

One radio appears to be a Motorola Radius P1225.

Both radios appear to be older, business-grade, Motorola Radius model radios, and both have damage to the antennas, apparently from prior use.

A closer view of the radios shows that one antenna has been "repaired" with tape.