FDNY should overhaul operations, report says.

The Fire Department of New York should consider overhauling its operations, says a new report co-authored by the FDNY and consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

The 100+ page report offers many recommendations for change, among them having the FDNY's most senior officials oversee large-scale emergencies from a remote operations base. Also, the FDNY and neighboring fire departments should coordinate their efforts during a crisis. The same goes for communication between the FDNY and other agencies such as the NYPD and Coast Guard.

"Interagency competition may be unavoidable, and even healthy to some extent, but it can never impair our ability to respond to emergencies. The stakes are just too high," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the press conference last week. The mayor was flanked by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and other officials from the two departments at the press conference.

One proposal involves rigging high-rise buildings with special equipment to boost the radio signals used by rescuers. Radio transmissions between firefighters within and without the World Trade Center reportedly failed on Sept. 11. Yet an audiotape was discovered by the Port Authority during the search which disputes the finding that radio signals were too weak. It is unclear how landlords feel about this proposal, or if all buildings could accommodate the equipment.

Fire chiefs will now be asked to fly police helicopters close to a fire as a way of gauging the best response.

The FDNY should also bolster its hazardous materials unit with new firefighters and equipment as fears of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack are on the rise.

The report praised firefighters' evacuation of an estimated 25,000 people from the burning towers on Sept. 11. The New York Times reports that other analysts have estimated that number at half that, however.

Both reports took five months to complete. McKinsey & Company--a consulting firm well known for its corporate work--interviewed many fire department and police department officials. They also reportedly reviewed taps of audio transmissions from 9/11.