Metro fixed an issue with radio coverage affecting parts of the Wheaton Station.
Fire officials in Montgomery County said they discovered trouble using their radios in some portions of the station, particularly along the platform, an issue that follows similar problems for District of Columbia firefighters, who said they could not communicate with each other inside the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station during the fatal episode there Jan. 12.
A memo sent Saturday by a fire official who oversees emergency communications and technology for the county says bi-monthly testing found that portions of the Metro system's Red Line had “poor to non-existent” radio coverage.
Battalion Chief Michael Baltrotsky, head of Montgomery County Fire's communications technology department, wrote that the problem is in “segments of the below grade” Red Line system. He wrote that means firefighters will have “little to no radio coverage” in “tunnels and some below-grade stations.”
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said Monday that the issue was isolated to some areas of the Wheaton station. There is no word about what caused the problem.
Baltrotsky said riders should not be concerned.
"The Montgomery County Fire/Rescue Service as well as our regional partners have systems in place to make sure that we can communicate effectively, and we do so on a daily basis," he said.
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Testing at 11 other stations in the county did not find any issues.
