The families of three of the four firefighters killed in a five-alarm hotel fire in 2013 are suing Motorola over claims the firefighters’ radios were not functioning.
The lawsuit was filed Monday includes the family members of Robert Bebee, Anne Sullivan, and Robert Garner. Robert Yarborough, who was severely injured in the fire, has also joined the suit, which claims Motorola radios failed when the firefighters tried to call for help.
The family of Matthew Renaud, who also died in the fire, is not included in the lawsuit.
Several additional firefighters were hurt in the fire.
Court papers show the plaintiffs are seeking punitive damages.
The fire on May 31, 2013, killed Capt. EMT Matthew Renaud, 35, and engineer operator EMT Robert Bebee, 41, both of Station 51, and firefighter EMT Robert Garner, 29, and probationary firefighter Anne Sullivan, 24, both from Station 68. Fourteen other firefighters were injured, including Capt. Bill Dowling, who lost both legs
One of the priimary reasons for that suit was because the restaurant owners knew the fire had been burning in a wall for at least two hours before the firefighters arrived, and did not tell the fire department about it.
This is the second suit filed after the fire. Last June the families, joined by the City of Houston filed suit against Southwest Inn. The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Firefighter Fatality Investigation, which was released in 2014, showed the firefighters were sent in unprepared. It also laid out problems with the city’s $138-million digital radio system – implemented one month before the fire – made communications “difficult if not impossible,” hampering efforts to rescue trapped firefighters.
There have been many who have questioned how Motorola has gotten contracts with many large cities across the United States. THere have been claims of such things as William Bratton, the former LA Police Chief got $750,000 from Motorola while Motorola fought and won a $280 million LA communications contract. Also the fact that they hired Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and National Security Council.
In Philadelphia Motorola’s digitial system was blamed in the deaths of two firefighters who perished in a blaze. Motorola settled thart suit with the families for an undisclosed amount.
Cincinnati spent $35 million. Two firefighters died, unable to transmit a “May Day” . In that case evidence showed that digital trunk line is ihnherently deficient for fire fighters. In Marion County, Indiana fire chiefs refuse to use the digital radios when fighting fires.
One Motorola technician has been reported as saying anonymously, “Using a trunking system or repeater system for fire ground is inviting disaster. Simplex (direct radio to radio without infrastructure) is best for fire ground.”.
“Digital is mostly pin drop clear or gone. Firefighters have issues with ‘gone’ – most can pull an evacuation order or mayday voice out of analog static.
“Multi-path is a total fail issue in digital. Relying on distant infrastructure and software to relay life and safety critical communications is what kills responders. Simplex is more reliable short range, on a normal incident scene.
“Loud machinery, fire engines pumping at high rates, alarms, sirens, barking K9’s may be encoded in preference to the user’s voice.
“Firefighters can tell the stress level of a partner’s voice in analog, but not in digital. That may not sound like a big deal, but it plays a role more often than one would think.”
