Fo B5 Public Hearing 5-18-04 3 Of 3 Fdr- Tab 10-18- Suggested Questions For Dennis Smith 767

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR DENNIS SMITH 1. On or before September 11, was the FDNY leadership aware of the potential for the towers to collapse, given the historical fire safety concerns about the World Trade Center towers? a. What exactly were the historical fire safety concerns about the World Trade Center's design? b. As you state in Report from Ground Zero, "no high-rise had ever collapsed from fire in the United States, and only one, in South America, had fallen in the entire world." (page 370). How did this knowledge influence decision-making among the FDNY's leadership? How did the leadership reconcile this knowledge with the historical fire safety concerns about the towers?

2. Is it true that FDNY fire chiefs have consistently said over the decades that "it is impossible to run an incident in New York City with a unified command?" a. What explains FDNY's mindset regarding the Incident Command System (ICS) and unified command in contrast to Los Angeles County's Fire Chief, Michael Freeman, who states that "we [Los Angeles County Fire Department] can't respond with anything but a unified command?" b. What factors influenced the formative years of the FDNY's senior leadership (the mid-1970's and 1980's) to possibly entrench them into a "go it alone" approach (that was anti-unified command)?

3. How did the lack of a fire department helicopter impede the FDNY leadership's situational awareness and ability to size-up the incident? a. Was the police department's helicopter communicating with the FDNY's leadership? b. What are the four (4) major fire departments in the U.S. that own a helicopter? Is the FDNY getting its own helicopter the right response or the wrong response?

4. What observations would you make about the serious communications problems with fire department radios in the towers? a.

Did the FDNY understand that it had a serious radio communications problem prior to 9/11, and what did it do about it?

b. Why did the FDNY introduce new digital radios, and then remove them and return to the analog system?

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5. Why was there such limited communications/ coordination between the police and fire departments? What is the heart of this problem, in your view? a. What efforts were made to rectify this situation before 9/11? b. What efforts have been made since, and how much progress has been made?

6. Was the OEM (Office of Emergency Management) command center and alternate site knocked out because of poor site selection (23rd floor of WTC 7) or because of the sheer magnitude of the incident? a. Why is an OEM essential for future response and coordination in New York City? 7. In his new book Working Fire, Oakland, Calif, firefighter Zac Unger comments that, "In the beginning of my career, I had thought that firefighting was about a thing, about gaining mastery over an inanimate process. But the truth, I know now, is that my job is not about the fire. It's about the save. It's about keeping the flames from licking too deeply into a vulnerable life and wreaking havoc there." Would you comment please on "the save" inside the WTC towers and the very thin line between duty and courage beyond the call of duty? a. How important is "the save" to a firefighter when confronted with their own possible self-sacrifice? b. What about an officer's duty to ensure the safety of his men - would an evacuation order be ignored? c. Was there a FDNY evacuation order given in the North Tower after the South Tower collapsed? How did firefighters respond?

DENNIS SMITH Author and Former Firefighter Dennis Smith grew up in the tenements of New York's East side. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, he was appointed to the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). An active firefighter for 18 years in one of the city's busiest firehouses, he retired to become the publisher and editor in chief of Firehouse Magazine, an Honorary Deputy Chief of the New York City Fire Department and Chairman of the New York Academy of Art. He has been called the "poet laureate of firefighters" by the New York Post. He has written several books about firemen, four of which have been New York Times bestsellers, including Report from Engine Co. #82, and Firefighting in America. He is also the author of the novels, The Final Fire, Glitter and Ash, and Steely Blue. His bestselling book Report from Ground Zero, is an extraordinary eyewitness account of the heroic workers who rushed to save the victims of the World Trade Center attack, and the three months following it. In it he has put together the most detailed and immediate record we have of this unforgettable day in American history. "Dennis Smith," writes Peter Gornor in the Chicago Tribune, "is the poetical New York City firefighter who writes books." Smith's first work, Report from Engine Co. 82, depicts his adventures as a member of New York's busiest fire station. Anatole Broyard, writing in the New York Times Book Review, comments on why the book sold one-and-a-half million copies: "[Smith] told us what it is like to risk your life,... how it feels to have bricks thrown at you and to be shot at while you're trying to put out a fire.... He articulated the terror of fire, the feeling of holocaust or hell that every fireman faces. Above all, he reminded us that satisfaction, even heroism, in public service still exists." Smith, himself cited for heroism on the job, turned to documenting his daily experiences after a letter he sent to the New York Times Book Review, signed '"Dennis Smith, New York firefighter,1... intrigued the New Yorker magazine enough to seek him out for an interview," Corner explains. "That, in turn, led to a publisher's commission and Smith's 1972 Report." In the New York Times, Broyard states that the author's presentation of "real fires—with people's lives at stake—are exciting reading, and," he adds, "Mr. Smith uses a nice, clean documentary style.... Although he occasionally lectures, it would be strange if he didn't, and 'literature' rears its precious head only once or twice in the book, in words like 'oxymoronic' and 'ontological.'" AWARDS Christopher Book Award, 1973, for Report from Engine Co. 82; honored for heroism as a firefighter. CAREER New York City Fire Department, New York City, fireman, 1963-81; Firehouse Magazine, New York City, editor-in-chief, 1975--. Chair of New York Fire Museum, 1982. President of board of trustees of Kips Bay Boys Club, 1972--; trustee of Boys Clubs of America. Military service: U.S. Air Force, 1957-60. SOURCE CITATION Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2004. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC