Don’t start the fall with aN auto accident or an injured child. REMEMBER school zone speeds are in effect tomorrow SEPT 8th 2015. The kids will be excited and school hours may be different for the first day. SCHOOL ZONE SPEEDS IN EFFECT 8 AM to 5 PM in BC
All posts by va7mpg
HAMS CALLED IN AS BACKUP AS COMMS CUT IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA..
The cutting of a fibre optic cable in Northern California severed emergency and other communications. This is not the first time this has happened in this area. The local Sheriffs office requested ARES unit attend the local hospital and fire stations as backup. Fortunately they were not needed. The police investigation continues.
http://www.advocate-news.com/general-news/20150904/major-internet-outage-strikes-again
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HAS CHANGED MINISTRIES.
Emergency Management British Columbia has been transferred to the Ministry of Transportation and Infastructure. This change could be positive news in that EMBC will now have a higher profile in Government. The press release is noted below and you may have to scroll down to see the entire list of changes
SOME FURTHER COMMENT ABOUT LAST WEEKENDS (AUGUST29/30 2015) STORM AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Emergency Management British Columbia has an earthquake response plan. If you think last weekends storm was a “problem” and it didn’t convince you to have a plan and an emergency kit maybe the story below will make you rethink. Please note at the bottom of the article is a link to the official government response plan
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/response-plan-estimates-vancouver-earthquake-could-kill-10-000-1.2545767
RAC SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST SET FOR OCTOBER 10 2015 (EXCEPT ONTARIO)
IT WASN’T ONLY FIRE FIGHTERS AND AMATEUR REPEATERS LOST IN WASHINGTON STATE FIRE.
The loss of the fire fighters in the Stickpin wildfire was indeed tragic and no value can be put on those loses. Those fire fighters that were injured are still on the mend. I wish them the very best.
The attachment below will give some information on the largest wildfire in the history of Washington state. The loss of the repeaters of the Lake Chelan Amateur Radio Club will no doubt have an impact for some time too
http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/World/2015/09/01/22547367.html#.VeZhj8AbMyk
GRAND FORKS BC -EVACUATION ALERT CANCELLED- UPDATED SUNDAY 30 AUGUST 2015 0940hrs.
EVACUATION ORDER CANCELLED SUNDAY AUGUST 30TH 2015 0945
The City of Grand Forks is the site of an equipment preparation centre for wild fire fighting equipment. There are fires in Washington state that seem to be headed north.
Amateur Radio involved with this fire. For the story go to
UPDATED Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 8:20 AM
5 KM south of the U.S/Canada border
20% contained
Fixed wing airtankers will only be used if there are achievable objectives to support ground crews. Crews have been making great progress towards constructing guard and tying into existing roadways. The smoky conditions may still limit aircraft and ground crew operations over the next several days. The smoke has been drifting in from several large fires in Washington State.
In the event that the BC Wildfire Service provides air support to this fire, it is likely that Christina Lake would be used as a water source for amphibious skimmer aircraft. Boaters can help with suppression efforts by immediately proceeding to the nearest shore if they see a plane approaching the water.
BC Wildfire Service crews were working on the west flank of the fire yesterday, but were moved to Grand Forks due to the potential for erratic winds to create hazardous fire behaviour. They joined the Structure Protection Units in Grand Forks to assist in the event of an interface fire.
AMATEUR RADIO ACTIVE IN REGION 1 DUE TO TROPICAL STORM ERIKA.
Radio Amateurs have been active in responding to the consequences of Tropical Storm Erika as it progressed through their region
The Radio Club of Dominica were active on 7.065MHz, 3.780MHz and local repeaters working with their Nation’s Emergency Operations Centre, Civil Defence and theDominican Red Cross collecting reports from their members around the country. The storm killed 20 people in the Dominican Republic as 200-300mm of rain fell in 12 hours causing flooding and mudslides. Damage assessments are ongoing in the country which was reported to have had widespread power failures.
Although the storm is officially classed as dissipated, fears over the remnants of the storm as it passes over Cuba and then nears Florida on Sunday mean that local emergency groups remain alert and other countries in the Carribean are also ready to respond if needed.
Although band conditions have been poor for the last two days, Radio Amateurs are requested to listen carefully when operating around the pubished Atlantic Hurricane frequencies to ensure that there is no interference to any emergency traffic.
http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/emergency-communications/1467-tropical-storm-erika-in-carribean
AMATEUR REPEATERS LOST IN WILDFIRE.
Two repeaters of the Lake Chelan Amateur Radio club in Washington state have been lost to a wildfire. For the entire story go to
http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-repeaters-fall-victim-to-washington-wildfire
WEATHER WARNING, HEAVY RAIN, FOR BC SOUTH COAST ISSUED AUG 27TH 2015
On August 27th 2015 at 2115 HRS Environment Canada issued a weather WARNING for the the south coast of British Columbia 80 to 120 mm of rain is expected this weekend. Due to the extremely dry conditions there is concern for flash floods