9/11 Failures

Even though the emergency responders for the world trade center on 9/11 were able to save a lot of lives they still had some flaws in their plan which if avoided could have reduced the number of responders life lost. The biggest flaw that caused a lot of deaths was the lack of inter-department communication and collaboration. The two largest emergency department’s that responded to the tragic event were the police department and the fire department and lack of team work led to certain causalities. For example, according to The New York Times, twenty-one minutes before the building fell, warnings were captured on police radio tapes which was then relayed to police officers and lead to escape of most of them.

Yet most firefighters never heard those warnings, or earlier orders to get out, due to the frequent failures of their system which occurred that morning. Regardless of the radios system failure, it wouldn’t have been much help since it was not linked to the police system which was where the warnings were

A six-month examination by The Times found that the rescuers ' ability to save themselves and others was hobbled by technical difficulties, a history of tribal feuding and management lapses that have been part of the emergency response culture in New York City and other regions for years. The other flaws in their plan were lapses in leadership and coordination and a lack of proper planning and training and lack of emergency resources (ambulances). Due to lack of coordination, the Fire Department could not account for the number of fighters that were sent into the towers, and where they died. The Emergency Medical Service said they only had ambulances for 400 calls while the chief of the Port Authority police said the region 's bridges, tunnels, and ports were drained of