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 Previous: The K7RA Solar Update |  Next: Ham Radio is a Family Affair |
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 20, 2004--All Amateur Radio Emergency
Service units in the ARRL Sacramento Valley Section in Northern California
remain on high alert as firefighters continue efforts to contain and control the
French
Fire. Located 15 miles northwest of Redding, the French Fire, which broke out
August 14, at one point resulted in the evacuation of French Gulch. As of
August 20, the fire has destroyed 22 homes, caused a dozen injuries and consumed
nearly 13,000 acres of forest lands and vegetation. The California Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) has estimated the fire will be 90 percent
contained by this evening. Sacramento Valley Section Emergency Coordinator
David Thorne, K6SOJ, says he expects the ARES operation in Shasta County to
remain active at least through the August 21-22 weekend.
 Eldorado County Emergency Coordinator Harry Miller, W6HFM, was among those assisting at an American Red Cross shelter at Shasta College in Redding for the Bear and French fires. |
"If it runs into next week, I may be requesting assistance from the Northern Nevada District, Nevada Section," Thorne said. The San Francisco Section--Humboldt County--is sending help Saturday." Thorne this week expressed thanks "to all who have responded and to those who are standing by."
Mutual assistance is still in effect to relieve exhausted operators. Mutual assistance teams from Butte, Siskiyou, Placer and Nevada counties have been deployed to assist Shasta County ARES. Thorne notes that temperatures have been near 100 degrees in Northern California, so incoming ARES members are being advised to prepare accordingly. District Emergency Coordinator Richard Cloyd, WO6P is the ARES incident coordinator.
Some 300 area residents evacuated because of the French
Fire were allowed to return August 17. Amateur Radio provided necessary
communication at the shelter for CDF and American Red Cross as well as for
local authorities. At one point, a packet system was set up between French
Gulch and the shelter, located at Shasta College, to provide for more secure
communications.
 This structure next to the store in French Gulch did not survive the French Fire, but the store itself, which includes the US Post Office, was spared. |
One ARES member noted that CDF "was really relying on Amateur Radio" because the agency's own repeaters couldn't reach into French Gulch.
The French Fire was one of three that ARES teams in
Northern California have had to confront this month. The Bear
Fire, which burned over some 10,500 acres, now is considered fully contained
and controlled. It destroyed 80 homes and 30 other structures in Jones Valley.
ARES supported Red Cross Disaster Services with damage assessment and
health-and-welfare support in that incident. Earlier in the month, ARES units
assisted in the now-contained Oregon Fire in Butte County.
 The French Fire above Crystal Creek Camp on August 14. [California Department of Forestry Photos] |
The French Fire has led authorities to close Highway 299 between Redding and Weaverville from time to time. When it's open, a pilot car is leading traffic through the area.
The ARES response in Northern California drew words of praise from former Sacramento Section Manager and Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Boyd, KW7J (ex-K6BZ). "I continue to be impressed with how smoothly this whole complex operation is going," he told Thorne in an e-mail. "Please convey to all the admiration of the former SEC and SM." Boyd now directs the Baker County 911 Dispatch Center in Oregon.
The National Interagency Fire Center said
August 20 that wildland fire activity remains moderate throughout the Northwest
and the Northern Rockies. Four new large fires were reported August 19 in
Alaska, California, Idaho and Washington. Two large fires have been contained
in Arizona and Oregon.
| Previous: The K7RA Solar Update | Next: Ham Radio is a Family Affair |
