initial dispatches for DCA plane crash

[Peteri Szerlagi]

listening to various channels via openmhz

2049 PM - regan airport fd sent to crash on an Alert 3

alexandria fireboat selfdispatched after receiving the call from DC M1
which might be DCPD Marine 1

2052 - Foam 310 is at end of runway - cannot see anything - will put
boat in water

2052 - airport fd bat chief request fairfax and pg co fireboats

2057 PM - DCFD Fireboat 3 at scene (on airport 3M channel)

2058 PM - airport fireboat 378 at scene

(the Regan Airport PD dispatcher was notified of the incident via the
"Crash Net" - she stated this on the radio - we did not hear the crash
net radio traffic - perhaps it is not broadcast via radio or maybe it
is encrypted)

Airport Fire BC orders Mass Casualty Alarms - at 9 PM both Alexandria
FD and Arlington County FD dispatch multi fire engines and ambulances
to the airport

note to self - pretty sure that the initial dispatch for the regan
airport fd was heard on TG3A on the wmaa feed - then enroute and
onscene comms were on 3L and 3M - the Arlington MCI Alarm was also
heard on TG 3A - maybe that was redundant actually - a function of the
CAD to CAD link perhaps - note sure about this - but anyhow - initial
dispatch at 2049 hours with big upgrade at 2100 hours

DCFD also had a full response - will need to check the times

technically speaking - per google maps - all of the potomoc river is
in washington dc - however dcfd has no units stationed on the west
side of the potomoc river - so its a legal distinction but not a real
operational distinction - technically speaking if the aircraft landed
in the river in DC - then DC should be the IC and run the show - but
the airport can get there as quick as DCFD and the airport might
actually have more boats than DC

unnown what assets the USCG has in the area - would be surprised if
they can get more than 2 thirty foot boats to the scene in under 30
minutes

[agent yo'range]

reposting

On Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 6:25 PM Peteri Szerlagi <zer...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> radio traffic from dc side of river
>
> heard via openmhz
>
> at 2049 pm - on Marine Interop 1 TG - somebody told DC Fireboat 2 that
> they had received a report via the crash phone that a helo was down at
> Regan Airport - that dispatcher might have been the DCPD Marine Patrol
> dispatcher or maybe it was USCG
>
> at 2051 - fireboat was saying something on the Main TG for DCFD - they
> reported that FB2 and FB3 were enroute to Regan Airport
>
> at 2052 - units were told to operate on Airport Channel 3 Lima
>
> 2053 - mention of a water rescue assignment - request for PG Co
> fireboat and Alexandria FB 301
>
> 2055 - on DCFD Dispatch channel - multi units dispatched - sounded
> like E7 E13 E18 Tr10 Tr7 Sqd3 Sqd1 HM23Foam 1 TCU Med Amb Bus 1 and 2
> etc
>
> 2055 - DC Mike 1 underway - maybe dc pd police boat
>
> 2055 - DCFD E7 calls FB1 on DCFD Main Channel
>
> you can see that it took 6 minutes for DCFD to get their main response
> out the door
>
> it seems that an alert 3 at DCA airport is pretty lame - just the
> airport fd and pd units respond - and anyone else they think of asking
> for - like random fireboats - maybe 1 fire truck comes from Dulles
> Airport also
>
> an Alert 2 at Logan Airport in Boston seems to get more of a response
> than an Alert 3 at Regan - an Alert 3 is an actual crash - an alert 2
> is a possible crash
>
> Alert 2 at Logan gets all airport fire trucks plus 1 boston eng and 1
> boston lad and 1 boston amb and 1 boston ems supervisor plus maybe 1
> boston fd boat plus maybe uscg or boston pd boat
>
> Alert 3 at Logan probably also gets 5 engines from boston and 2
> ladders and 1 or 2 rescue trucks - maybe even a task force of heavy
> rescue trucks
>
> one thing that dampened down the Regan airport response was people
> saying "a helicopter crash' - it was not just a helicopter crash by
> any stretch of the imagination - but minimalization was running full
> bore