Locked Out

Article Courtesy of NBC 6 Special Report
Published on May 11, 2005

MIAMI -- In an emergency, seconds count for rescue teams. But what NBC 6's Willard Shepard saw when he rode with fire rescue crews was amazing.

Many of the emergency teams were locked out of gated South Florida housing developments, condos and apartment complexes.

"We tried the clicker that's provided by the apartment complex here. It's not working," Lt. Brian Newsholme said.

The day NBC 6 tagged along, Newsholme's team was slowed several minutes when it went to help a young child who may have overdosed on medication at Monticello Apartments.

The girl's apartment was behind a security gate. The electrical switch that only emergency crews have access to didn't work, and it took a while for their remote to open the gate.

"This could be my family. This could be your family. Seconds count," said Lt. Eric Baum, of the Miami-Dade Fire Department.

Once the child was at the hospital, the crew returned to see what caused the problem. However, that time they couldn't get in at all.

"We can't gain entrance through this entrance here," Newsholme said. "(This happens) every shift."

The management team didn't return NBC 6's calls but with a fire inspector we found the switch repaired several weeks later.

The fire crew was also locked out when responding to a call at Marquis Villas in north Miami-Dade County.

"We have a key to get in this box to open that gate. There's a switch," Allison Fontana said.

But when she flipped the switch, nothing happened.

"We have to hope that some resident comes by to get us in here," she said.

The residents at the complex told NBC 6 they didn't have any idea that the box would not work if the fire department showed up and needed to get beyond the gates to help them or their families.

"Did you know the fire department was not able to get in here?" NBC 6's Willard Shepard asked.

"No, not at all. No idea," resident Lazaro Mendez said.

The condo association took action, sending a letter to the fire department that provided a new clicker and keypad security codes. The association also said it was eager to fix the gate switch, which still wasn't working when a fire inspector checked up three weeks later.

Riding with the emergency teams, NBC 6 found that sirens, gate cards, special keys for gate switches, and punch codes often didn't work.

At one development at SW 163rd Avenue and 96th Street, the code given to firefighters came up as an "invalid entry."

Once the crew got into the development, NBC 6 saw residents and even a UPS driver with the right code numbers.

"Ah, he's got a special code," said Enrique Marino, with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. "The UPS man can get in but we can't."

In Broward County, off Miramar Parkway west of Interstate 75, paramedics said they avoid the Nautica complex gate on some calls. Yelp mode doesn't work, so they drive almost 2 miles out of the way to a gate that's manned.

"Last night we were on a call. We anticipated the gate not working. So instead of coming here we headed further east and went a longer route to get to the call," said Lt. Clay Logan, with Miramar Fire Department.

Residents at the complex weren't happy.

"I would be pretty pissed off if something happened," Eric Gabber said.

"That concerned me. I rushed over here to open the gate because I noticed he couldn't get in," Idalmis Hernandez said.

The association that runs the development said it is very concerned and has spent significant money to repairing the gate and will do so again.

Fire inspectors like Marisso Cedeno give notices to homeowner associations and management companies.

"Normally they will have 30 days to comply (with fixing a problem)," Cedeno said.

If you live in a gated community, make sure your management is keeping fire departments up to date on entry information.

Partly as a result of NBC 6's story, Miami-Dade fire is trying to develop a better way for firefighters to report problems they find.