Emergency communication in highrises a concern, says expert

By Mike Howell-Staff writer

Developers proposing to build large buildings or modify them should include a radio communication system to prevent emergency personnel's portable radios from cutting out when answering a call.

That's the recommendation from former Vancouver Police Department inspector John Schouten, who outlined his concerns in a report to the Vancouver Police Board about the threat of degradation of radio signals.

"You only have to look at the examples of 9/11 in New York where the three agencies couldn't communicate properly within the towers and a number of emergency service personnel lost their lives because of communications issues," said Schouten, the police department's communications expert before retiring in November 2003.

Schouten said "seamless radio coverage" is available to police, fire and paramedics in more than 97 per cent of the city. His concern, however, is that an increase in new highrises could result in poor or non-existent radio signals. To keep the radio coverage seamless, Schouten has targeted buildings bigger than 5,000 square metres in floor space, more than 12 metres in height and more than 1,000 metres of basement space.

Structures affected would be those built of reinforced concrete or steel, with metal cladding or reflective glass. Those types of buildings, Schouten said, can potentially degrade or eliminate radio communication-not only in the building itself, but impede radio signals from reaching a neighbouring building.

"We wouldn't want to be in a situation where emergency service personnel would be in a large structure unable to communicate. That would be a danger to the emergency personnel and potentially be a danger to the public if, say, there was an armed man running around in a building."

Communication problems can usually be resolved by installing an antenna on the outside of a building and linking it with another inside the building. Depending on the size of the building, amplifiers or repeaters are also installed inside a building. Costs can range from $5,000 to more than $100,000, depending on the size of the building. Installing the equipment in an existing building is the most significant part of the cost.

The cost is minimal to install equipment at the time of new construction or of major renovation. That's because cables and other equipment can be installed at the same time as smoke alarms and lighting, he said.

Schouten is the police board's representative on the board of directors at E-Comm, the radio communication system for emergency personnel in southwest B.C. He wrote the report after concerns were raised by the dispatch centre.

Peter Gauthier, director of wireless services for E-Comm, said Surrey has already amended a city bylaw to ensure new buildings or those wanting to be modified upgrade or install a communication system.

"The idea behind this is to ensure that developers keep the needs of emergency services in the forefront when they're building these [structures]," Gauthier said.

He said the SkyTrain tunnel under downtown was fitted with radio equipment because of problems with communication. Some buildings, however, still haven't been fully upgraded. The basement of the B.C. Supreme Court on Smithe Street, for example, only allows firefighters to talk to each other on portable radios.

The Police Board endorsed Schouten's recommendation at its June 14 meeting for an amendment to the city's building bylaw.

published on 06/28/2006