News report on WTC remains recovery ceremony, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Victims Group Wants Inquiry Into Sept. II Communications By MICHAEL COOPER A group representing families and friends of World Trade Center vic­ Search for Remains tims called yesterday for an inde­ Ends With Ceremony pendent inquiry Into reports that the Fire Department’s failing radio sys­ The city will mark the end of tem and a lack of communication its efforts to recover human among the agencies that responded remains from the rubble of the to the attack hampered the rescue World Trade Center today efforts on Sept. 11. with a ceremony at the Fresh Members of the group, the Sky- Kills landfill on^taten Island, * scraper Safety Campaign, said their where more than a million and call was prompted by an article in a half tons of debris have been J - The New York Times last week. The sifted for clues. 'T ’ Times reported that technical prob- Mayor Michael R. Bloom­ . lems and a lack of coordination be- berg, Gov. George E. Pataki : / tween agencies meant a police warn­ and Police Commissioner ing that the north tower was in immi- Raymond W. Kelly are expect­ . nent danger of collapse was not re- ed to speak at the ceremony, * layed to many firefighters still inside which is scheduled for 9:30 the tower, the second one to fall. a.m. “We need to find out what went Although the trade center I “ wrong on Sept. 11,” said Monica Ga­ site will be closed, the office of brielle, a chairwoman of the group the chief medical examiner who spent her 29th wedding anniver- will continue to try to Identify .1 - sary yesterday mourning the loss of the human remains that have ;/j her husband, Richard, an insurance been recovered from the land- ,.. broker killed in the south tower. “We fiU. . I need to learn from it, and we need to fix it, and we need to fix it now.” Jj,. The group sent letters yesterday to Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Mi­ Commissioners Scoppetta and Kelly chael R. Bloomberg and Gifford to make sure we learn as much as we Miller, the City Council speaker, ask- can from the tragic attack of Sept. “ ing for meetings and for an independ- ’ 11,” Edward Skyler, the mayor’s ent investigation of the rescue effort. press secretary, said in a statement. Sally Regenhard, another chair- “Already, the Police and Fire De­ woman of the group, said: “Only partments have both assigned liai­ when we have strong building codes, sons to each other, and are institut­ plus a strong system of emergency ing other initiatives to improve com­ ’ management, a strong system of co- munications and procedures.” '■ operation and communication be- The Fire Department has hired j. tween the Fire Department and the McKinsey & Company to evaluate its Police Department, can we be confi- methods, and it is again testing radi­ ■ii dent that we are safe and secure.” os to try to fix a communications Her son, Christian, was a probatlon- problem that has existed for years. ary firefighter who died that day. Jennifer Farina, a spokeswoman A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg for Mr. Pataki, said the governor. , .. said the mayor was sure Police Com- looked forward to receiving the let­ • missioner Raymond W. Kelly and ter and would consider its point. And " ' Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scop- Christopher Policano, a Council petta would study the emergency spokesman, said Mr. Miller would response and try to learn from it. meet with the group and the Council “The mayor has full confidence in would consider holding hearings.

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