[MarinTeams] Novato Marin Valley Mobile Country Club Fire

Sat Oct 8 16:52:00 EDT 2016

This is a very important discussion and I hope it can lead to a promising
outcome.

Except for RACES, first responders and CERT have chosen so far to develop
non-amateur radio communication resources.  Even though some of our amateur
radio equipment can be adjusted to operate outside the amateur bands, it is
important to remember that it is very bad practice and most likely illegal
to transmit using amateur equipment on *any* frequencies outside the amateur
bands.  

As MURS, Family Radio, and commercial two-way radio frequencies are outside
the amateur bands, transmission using amateur equipment is out of the
question.

What we can do is use Amateur Radio to develop our communication resources
as neighbors so that we can make a positive contribution if we are
requested.  Amateur Radio offers a great opportunity to practice our skills
in communications exercises and this experience has shown to be beneficial
in a wide variety of communications.

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: MarinTeams [mailto:marinteams-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
Betsy De Fries
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2016 11:07 AM
To: joseph deAvila; marin teams
Cc: Ann Eichhorn
Subject: Re: [MarinTeams] Novato Marin Valley Mobile Country Club Fire

Very sorry that you had to go through this. A wild fire is so very
frightening.

I believe we licensed ham radio ops should push on the CERT and First
Responders to allow us to use the ER wave band with our Ham Radios to
assist them in such cases. Their 2watt business band radios are not much
help if you live, where we do, 600+ft up on the WUI (Wildland Urban
Interface) where connection is spotty at the best of times.

You are so right when you say that our first responders are great but there
aren't enough of them. In the greater Mill Valley area there is only one
fireman actually residing locally and about 5-7 on duty at our local
station. In a serious emergency they will be overwhelmed and those of us
living up here will be on our own to deal with things as best we can. ...
At the very least it would help if we were able to do a fast reconnaissance
and report back to ER services so they can best judge their priorities.

We know that their worry is that people will abuse it to listen in on the
ER band. Perhaps it could be structured so that those of us interested
could take a special license for use in emergencies only, with our details
on file for reassurance that we're not a band of vigilante nut jobs. My
only concern is the protection and assistance for my immediate family and
neighbors here on our hill.

Just my two-cents.  ... And glad you are okay!

On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 2:07 PM, joseph deAvila <jdeavila13 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I worked on a email with photos and important comments all day.  It got so
> large that it wouldn't save. I wasn't able to slim it down and it finally
> deleted itself. Poof!  So here's the short version.
>
> Not surprisingly, out of about 60 emergency volunteers in our community
> there were about five people including myself that responded.  We use
> business band radios 2watts issued by CERTS. They work OK for our needs.
> The few of us that had our radios were able to coordinated with police ad
> fire personnel (at a minimal level) to assist with control traffic
movement
> and fully to alert residence to shelter in-place or to evacuate.
>
> Fortunately the 20 acre fire was quickly controlled by the fire department
> and there was no structural damage.
>
> My ongoing practice with Marin Teams and my drills with our volunteers
> helped me to remain calm (some what) and communicate clearly.
>
> When I saw the wall of fire coming over the ridge where it started, my
> first thought was, "well (sh**) this is serious" my second thought was get
> my radio and do an assessment of all the dense vegetation around me.
>
> Last but not least, first responders did a great job in this case,  but
> there aren't enough of them.  Bill is right we'll have to be prepared to
do
> the heavy lifting in the long run.  Communications skills and preparedness
> was a real help for me.
>
> KK6SCN, "OUT"
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