Union Leaders: D.C. Firefighters Still Having Radio Problems

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Union leaders say emergency responders are still having communication problems in Washington subway tunnels in the wake of a fatal accident on the system last month.

District of Columbia firefighters' union president Ed Smith and emergency medical workers' union president Kenneth Lyons discussed the ongoing issues on Thursday during a D.C. Council hearing on the accident.

Smith says firefighters' radios wouldn't necessarily work in the tunnels if something else went wrong. Lyons says emergency workers would be better off using cellphones.

One passenger was killed and more than 80 others were taken to hospitals with smoke inhalation after a train filled with smoke in a tunnel near a downtown station. The National Transportation Safety Board says an electrical malfunction led to the smoke and is investigating the cause.

(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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