The following information was received in the ARRL letter concerning the amateur radio response and the California fires
Camp Fire
In Butte County, in northern California, the Camp Fire, the state’s deadliest wildfire, triggered a call up of Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) members for communication support. A small wildfire that started in a mountainous area of Butte County quickly grew, due to high winds. Eventually more than 25,000 people were evacuated. As multiple shelters opened to assist evacuees, five Sacramento Valley ARES http://sacvalleyares.org/ groups were called out to support communication between the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center (DOC) and the shelters.
The uncontrolled wildfire eventually consumed the town of Paradise, a town of some 27,000 residents. As of November 14, the Camp Fire covered some 145,000 acres (35% contained), killed more than 40 people, and destroyed nearly 8,000 structures.
Utilizing mutual assistance, more than 20 ARES members from five ARES groups are supporting the shelters. ARES members have also been tasked by Red Cross to shadow Red Cross delivery vehicles to provide communication in the mountain areas to the shelters.
ARES communication at the shelters has been carried out using voice, Winlink, and email to pass shelter counts, and tactical messages between the shelter and the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center and Cal Office of Emergency Services.
The Red Cross is supporting ARES at the shelters with hot spots and backup radios.
Working 12-hour shifts, Sacramento Valley Section District Emergency Coordinator 3 Michael Joseph, KK6ZGB, has been staffing the Red Cross radio station as net control for the DOC, passing messages and tracking ARES personnel. Sacramento ARES members have been pitching in as needed. Joseph also has been coordinating ARES deployments as needed.
Visit the ARRL Sacramento Valley Section Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ARRLSacramentoValley/ page or Twitteraccount https://twitter.com/ARRL_SV for more information. — Thanks to Sacramento Valley Section Emergency Coordinator Greg Kruckewitt, KG6SJT
Woolsey Fire
The Woolsey Fire that swept through the westernmost portion of Los Angeles County, including Malibu, and the easternmost area of Ventura County in the ARRL Santa Barbara Section, required the evacuation of more than 200,000 Los Angeles County residents — an unprecedented number in recent decades. Evacuees included several celebrities, several of whom lost homes in the fire. More than 50 people have died in all fires, and more than 100 are still missing.
“[G]overnmental radio systems used by fire and sheriff held up well, even though cell phone and internet service went out in many fire areas because of burned utility poles,” said Los Angeles Section Manager Diana Feinberg, AI6DF. “Evacuees went to areas where cell phone service was generally available.”
Feinberg said Los Angeles ARES (ARES LAX http://www.areslax.org/) has not been activated because no county hospitals are in the affected area and no hospital outside the fire zone was in danger of losing communication. She added, though, that a sizable team of ARES LAX operators organized by LAX-Northwest District Emergency Coordinator Roozy Moabery, W1EH, did extensive logistics work over the November 10 – 11 weekend at a major drop-off site in the San Fernando Valley for evacuee supplies. ARES team members worked with other volunteers to accept nearly 10 tons of pet food, plus thousands of boxes of items such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, razors, lotion, feminine care products, and sunscreen, as well as baby food, formula, diapers and wipes, towels and bedding, snacks, and non-perishable food items, Feinberg said.
On the air for the Woolsey Fire, both the Los Angeles County Disaster Communications Service (DCS) — Amateur Radio volunteers overseen by the Sheriff’s Department — and the City of Los Angeles Fire Department Auxiliary Communication Service (ACS) operated nets and monitored their respective frequencies. “The DCS group at Lost Hills Sheriff Station covers most of the Los Angeles County areas affected by the Woolsey Fire and communicated with organized amateurs in the cities of Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Westlake Village, and unincorporated mountain areas when not affected by respective mandatory evacuation orders,” Feinberg said. “The City of Los Angeles’ ACS group was involved when the city’s West Hills neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley became the fire’s northeastern front, forcing about half of the West Hills community to evacuate.” Santa Barbara Section Manager John Kitchens, NS6X, told ARRL that Ventura County ACS (ARES) is supporting evacuation centers and the Red Cross, in the Santa Barbara Section.
Feinberg said ACS members have also been involved with delivering food and water supplies to LAFD firefighters and performing fire patrols. American Red Cross volunteers are reported to be using Amateur Radio in connection with some of their fire response activities, Feinberg reported. The Woolsey Fire covers nearly 100,000 acres and was reported 47% contained as of November 14. Read more http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-volunteers-at-the-ready-for-california-fire-duty. — Thanks to Diana Feinberg, AI6DF