Among the tragedies of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City were those caused by an almost complete communications meltdown among emergency workers at the scene. While police got the order to evacuate from the World Trade Center's burning north tower, for instance, firefighters didn't-and many of them were still inside the tower when it finally collapsed. And that was only one of a number of communication failures that directly or indirectly cost lives. The inability to track personnel, to get pictures from TV news reports or helicopters showing the condition of the towers, and even incompatible radios that couldn't talk to each other all contributed to the disaster.

Help in improving communications among emergency workers, however, is on the way. Wireless networking technologies being tested and deployed in U.S. communities could solve at least part of the problem. The new networks are providing police and firefighters a way to pass vital data such as video, maps, and photos among themselves quickly and easily. Voice communications may take longer to modernize and integrate, but observers point to progress in an area called "software radio" that will let emergency workers from different agencies talk with each other more easily.