United States Civil Defense Assoc.(USCDA) is on RED ALERT
United States Civil Defense Assoc.(USCDA) is on RED ALERT
due to the California RIM Fire. USCDA A Team members on seen are asking
for more support from USCDA members to help out at shelters and at fire
camps to assist the fire fighters and hot shot teams resting between
fire missions with water, ice and food. USCDA also has EMT’s on duty in
the area..Members who cannot go to help out with the RIM Fire can still
play a very important roll by calling companies large and small to ask
them to please donate items for this major American disaster. Items
needed: Water, Ice, army style cots, small one or two man tents,
blankets, freeze dried foods, can foods and other dry food (Rice, Beans
etc.) stuffs. You can order the freeze dried foods from Food Storagewww.foodstoragedepot.com
People can also donate money. All
donated items including checks or money orders can now be sent to
USCDA-HQ at 301 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach CA 92651. From here we will see
to it that it gets where it is most needed. Start making the calls now
and make the arrangements now and try to obtain commitments and other
pledges from possible donors. Be sure and let HQ’s know of any items
being donated and being sent to us by donor. Inform us of all pledges.
Many families are displaced due
to the fire and smoke. Many have had to flee the fire and smoke.
Hundreds have lost their homes and need the basics. Please help us get
there needs met. Those members who cannot help directly because of work
or what ever can help by going to
www.foodstoragedepot.com and order some freeze dried food and have it drop shipped to USCDA HQ’s at 301 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92651. Thank You! HQ.
| #RimFire Central California ARES-RACES Volunteers Burning Up The Air #CaFire
08/30/2013
ARES-RACES volunteers in Central
California now have been on duty for more than 10 days as part of the
response to the gigantic Rim Fire in and near Yosemite National Park and
the Stanislaus National Forest. The initial callout on August 19
responded to a request to assist the Red Cross in setting up an
evacuation center at Tioga High School in Groveland, California, for
residents leaving the fire zone from Buck Meadows in Mariposa County,
said Tuolumne County ARES Emergency Coordinator Carl Groci, NI6Z. He and
Grayson, KE6KYI, met Red Cross volunteers and evacuees at the school
and established communication with the Red Cross office in Sonora, where
ARES has a VHF station. The next day, shelter operations were secured
and relocated to the Tuolumne County Fairgrounds in Sonora.
In Harm’s Way
In the meantime, Groci and his
wife Melissia, KD6FFX, who live in Groveland, found themselves on a
stand-by advisory evacuation notice. “We started making preparations to
leave our home,” he said, “gathering up important documents, photos and
other irreplaceable items.” By August 22, the smoke generated by the
fire was more than the couple could take, so they packed up their two
cats and headed to Sonora — some 20 miles to the northwest — where they
took shelter with Paul, WA7AWC, and his wife Dean, KG6GBZ. They remained
there until August 25.
Several Hats
Also on August 20, the Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services requested Amateur Radio assistance to staff the Red Cross shelter at the Fairgrounds in Sonora and to the community information telephone system at the Tuolumne County emergency operations center. Groci and Tuolumne County RACES Officer Phil Fish, WB6GGY, handled the callout and soon had volunteers for both locations as well as some on standby.
“Here in Tuolumne County,” Groci
explained, “the Amateur Radio community wears several hats — ARES,
RACES, VIP and CERT. If needed, we can respond and change affiliations
as conditions change.”
Croci said volunteers from
Calaveras County ARES also have been pitching in. “We are still staffing
the Red Cross Shelter and the community information phone lines with
four ARES/RACES operators on the phones and two in the shelters,” Croci
said at mid-week. The Red Cross was sheltering approximately 100
evacuees. Eight radio amateurs have been staffing the shelter, while
another 12 handle the community information telephones at the EOC.
Fish has described the fire terrain in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties as “very, very, very rugged.”
Fresno County ARES
To the south, Fresno County ARES
was put on alert August 19 by the Central Valley Red Cross. “We were
asked to relay information from their shelter,” said Fresno County EC
Dan Pruitt, AE6SX. “We had our volunteers operating from home,
monitoring the Mariposa 146.745 repeater at Mt Bullion.” Mariposa County
ARES staffed a shelter at Greeley Hills Community Center, ready to pass
traffic to Red Cross Headquarters. “This continued for about 24 hours
before the shelter shut down from a lack of clients,” Pruitt said.
A few days later, on August 25,
ARES was reactivated, due to more evacuations and the need for a
shelter. Volunteers set up the next day at the Red Cross office in
Fresno, where they installed a station capable of operating on emergency
power. “We made contact with Mariposa County ARES at the Greeley Hill
shelter,” Pruit said. “We passed traffic until we were asked to shut
down for the night.” Volunteers returned early the next day. They
dismantled the station on August 27. Pruitt said eight volunteers turned
out for the activation.
Digital Impresses
During the activation, Fresno County ARES used Fldigi and Flmsg
— a forms management editor — on PSK125 to pass traffic from the
shelter and the Red Cross Headquarters. “We found that the faster speed
and wider signal [resulted in] fewer errors.” Pruitt said, adding that
the Red Cross “was very impressed” with their ability to send and
receive traffic in the Incident Command System general message form (ICS-213), filled out and printed.
Still a Threat
According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC),
the Rim Fire as of August 29 covers nearly 200,000 acres, with almost
7000 acres burned over in the past 24 hours. The Rim Fire, 32 percent
contained, has now has claimed more than 110 structures — including a
few houses — and the cost of fighting it is approaching $50 million. The
communities of Tuolumne City, Twain Harte, Long Barn, Pinecrest and the
Hetch-Hetchy watershed are threatened, as are power lines in the
region. Evacuations and road and area closures are in effect. The Rim
Fire is not expected to be fully contained for another 10 days or so.
More info
California Fire News Updates Here: http://calfirenews.com
Article Source: http://www.arrl.org/news/ares-races-volunteers-remain-on-duty-for-rim-fire-response
A series of time-lapse images has been posted that offer a perspective of the Rim Fire's rapid growth
---------------------------------------------
-
|
||
| Smoke Report: The Rim Fire May Burn For Many Months #CaFire #CaAQ #CaSmoke
Posted: 30 Aug 2013 12:23 PM PDT The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded becoming one of the 10 largest California wildfires on record.
#RimFire
progression slowed earlier this week when it moved from parts of the
forest with thick underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to
areas that had seen fire in the past two decades.
But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends this fall
"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
That means the smoke could continue to foul air north of Yosemite in the Lake Tahoe basin and neighboring Nevada for many months
The air quality index in the Reno
area still had improved only to the "unhealthy" level, and in Douglas
County, Nev., school children were kept indoors again when the index
registered in the "hazardous" category.
---------------------------------------------CFN - California Fire News 2013 - |
||
| Rim Fire California National Guard Predator Drone Deployed - Will remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a time #CaFire
Posted: 30 Aug 2013 12:00 PM PDT
Predator drone now part of California wildfire battle
"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
GROVELAND, Calif. (AP) — As crews
advanced against a giant wildfire around Yosemite National Park, fire
commanders said they would maintain use of a Predator drone to give them
early views of any new flare-ups across in the remote and rugged
landscape
Officials remained confident on Thursday about their efforts to
corral the Rim Fire, which grew by a relatively modest few hundred acres
overnight.The fire had burned about 301 square miles as of Thursday morning and remained 30 percent contained. It has cost $39 million to fight. "We remain very optimistic that our containment lines are holding, and we'll continue to strengthen lines around communities that are threatened around the fire," said California fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. Fire officials said they expect to fully surround the blaze in three weeks, although it will burn for much longer than that. View gallery." Ice Cream: Firefighter Troy Drouin takes a short break before mopping up hot spots near Yosemite National Park The California National Guard drone deployed Wednesday was being remotely piloted hundreds of miles away, allowing ground commanders to keep an eye out for new fires they otherwise wouldn't have immediately seen. "The drone is providing data directly back to the incident commander, allowing him to make quick decisions about which resources to deploy and where," Berlant said. Previously, officials relied on helicopters that needed to refuel every two hours.
While unmanned aircraft have
mapped past fires, use of the Predator will be the longest sustained
mission by a drone in California to broadcast information to
firefighters in real time.
The plane, the size of a small
Cessna, will remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a time,
allowing fire commanders to monitor fire activity, determine the fire's
direction of movement, the extent of containment and confirm new fires
ignited by lightning or flying embers
The drone is being flown by the
163rd Wing of the California National Guard at March Air Reserve Base in
Riverside and is operating from Victorville Airport, both in Southern
California. It generally flew over unpopulated areas on its 300-mile
flight to the Rim Fire. Outside the fire area, it will be escorted by a
manned aircraft.
"Officials were careful to point out the images are being used only to aid in the effort to contain the fire."
In 2009 a NASA Predator equipped
with an infrared imaging sensor helped the U.S. Forest Service assess
damage from a fire in Angeles National Forest. In 2008, a drone capable
of detecting hot spots helped firefighters assess movement of a series
of wildfires stretching from Southern California's Lake Arrowhead to San
Diego.
The Rim Fire has destroyed 111 structures, including 11 homes, and posed a threat to ancient giant sequoias.
The fire also has threatened San
Francisco's water supply at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but Stratton
said it was burning itself out as it approached and that crews were
lighting back burns to push it back into the wilderness.
The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and
quickly exploded in size, becoming one of the 10 largest California
wildfires on record. Its progression slowed earlier this week when it
moved from parts of the forest with thick underbrush that had not burned
in nearly a century to areas that had seen fire in the past two
decades.
But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends this fall
Information sources:
|
No comments:
Post a Comment