Basin Complex Fire Big Sur LPNF

[ScannerDude244]

Well I guess this fire should get it's own thread

They are using LPNF net 170.550 for Command. I wont be able to pick up the tac nets maybe the Air tacs.

MONTEREY, Calif. -- One of the biggest fires is burning down in Big Sur the Gallery Fire.

The Gallery Fire in Big Sur has burned at least 1,500 acres and is only 10 percent contained. So far more than 2,000 firefighters battling the flames, CAL Fire said.

The fire started just after 1 p.m. Saturday and was sparked by a lightening strike.

There are at least 75 structures evacuated, an evacuation order is in place for the Ventana Inn and the Partington Ridge area.

Road closures in effect Sunday night include, Highway 1 from the Ventana Inn to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

Evacuation orders are in effect from the Ventana Inn area to the Partington Ridge area.

Guests at the Ventana Inn have been evacuated and the Post Ranch Inn has asked guests to leave and is shut down.

http://www.ksbw.com/news/16680811/detail.html



Meanwhile, firefighters are also combating the Gallery Fire, which broke out at about 1 p.m. Saturday, also in Los Padres National Forest, about three miles south of Big Sur.

The blaze, caused by dry lightning, has burned an estimated 2,000 acres and prompted the evacuation of 75 to 100 residences and businesses between Partington Ridge and Graves Canyon.

The American Red Cross has set up an evacuation center at Big Sur Grange Hall.

The fire has closed state Highway 1 between Ventana Inn and Spa, which remains open, and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, which is closed.

Flames are also threatening seven young California condors and one adult condor which were waiting to be rescued this afternoon from holding pens at the Ventana Wildlife Society's condor release site in Big Sur, according to Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society.

Road closures have cut off all ground access to the facility and wildlife officials have called the U.S. Coast Guard to help rescue the birds by helicopter.

There was no estimated containment time of the Gallery Fire as of 6 a.m. today.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080622/NEWS01/80622001/1002/rss

 

[cousinkix1953]

Gallery Fire

So thats what all of the new activity is on these fequencies is all about.

151.250 Monterey ECC
151.355 command 1

You are more likely to hear some federal traffic on the south side of the monterey Bay too. Last Winter's storms took out my old outdoor antenna. I still have the RG8U coax and connectors. One of these days I'm gonna get off my azz and put up a cheap home brew 2 meter ground plane; so I'll get better recption again...

 

[ScannerDude244]

Gallery Fire Doubles In Size

So thats what all of the new activity is on these fequencies is all about.

151.250 Monterey ECC
151.355 command 1

You are more likely to hear some federal traffic on the south side of the monterey Bay too. Last Winter's storms took out my old outdoor antenna. I still have the RG8U coax and connectors. One of these days I'm gonna get off my azz and put up a cheap home brew 2 meter ground plane; so I'll get better recption again...

Monterey ECC was running Browns fire

Command 1 was the Hummingbird Fire



BIG SUR, Calif. -- The Gallery Fire burning south of Big Sur more than doubled in size, growing to more than 5,000 acers by Monday afternoon.

U.S. Forest Service officials said the blaze started Saturday afternoon around 1 p.m. about 3 miles south of Big Sur in the Los Padres National Forest.

More than 2,000 firefighters have been battling the fire since Saturday afternoon.

A smaller fire three miles to the northeast, called the Basin Fire, has grown to more than 885 acres and is moving to the southwest.

Steep terrain and limited access to the burning areas have hampered fire crew efforts to gain control over the fires.

About 75 residences and businesses were evacuated Saturday night between Partington Ridge and Graves Canyon. One home and two cabins have been destroyed by the fire.

Guests at the Ventana Inn were evacuated and the Post Ranch Inn has asked guests to leave and shut down late Sunday.

Red Cross workers set up an evacuation center at the Big Sur Grange Hall for displaced residents.

Highway 1 was closed between the Ventana Inn and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park Saturday afternoon. It is not known when the highway will reopen.

Fire investigators said lightning sparked the dry grass and started the blaze.

http://www.ksbw.com/news/16684892/detail.html

 

[ScannerDude244]

Fires launch emergency

BIG SUR — A wildfire along the Big Sur coast that’s torched more than 6,000 acres since igniting Saturday has the potential to grow 10-fold, a fire official said Monday.
“Things are moving really fast,” said Richard Hadley, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, as he stood in strong winds at Big Sur Station. “We had to pull out firefighters along Partington Ridge because the fire was burning too hot.”

This blaze and others prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency in Monterey County on Monday, meaning all available state resources are to be used to combat the fires.

Contending with rugged terrain, high winds and strained resources, crews have been unable to contain any part of the Gallery Fire, which so far has burned 6,600 acres and destroyed two houses on Partington Ridge and one home and two cabins on Stony Ridge.

Hadley said the fire could grow as large as the massive Indians Fire, which since June 8 has burned more than 58,000 acres of wildland, mostly in Los Padres National Forest.

The fire has blackened vegetation all the way to Highway 1, which has been closed from the Ventana Inn in the north to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in the south. More than 75 people were asked to evacuate homes and businesses between Partington Ridge and Graves Canyon, Hadley said.

But some residents have not heeded the evacuation orders. “From what I’ve seen and heard … a lot of people aren’t leaving,” said Nathan Napoles, who lives in the evacuation area on Highway 1. The fire burned up the road right across from his residence, Napoles said, but firefighters allowed him to pass through the roadblock to his home Sunday night.

The American Red Cross set up an evacuation center at the Big Sur Grange Hall on Sunday where more than 30 evacuees came. All of them made arrangements to stay with friends or family, and the evacuation center closed its doors by Monday morning, said Sharon Crino, chief executive officer of the Carmel-area Red Cross.
Fires may merge

With crews busy fighting the Indians and Gallery fires, firefighters have been unable to attack a third blaze in Los Padres National Forest, the Basin Fire, which by Monday evening had burned an estimated 2,650 acres northwest of Tassajara Hot Springs, up from the 885 acres reported Monday morning. The Basin and Gallery fires are only three miles away from each other, and it’s possible the two fires could connect in the coming days, Hadley said.

He said firefighters assigned to the Gallery blaze are focused primarily on protecting houses, but one tanker plane and two helicopters have attacked the fire from the air.
A National Type 1 Incident Management Team took control of efforts to contain the Gallery blaze Monday night. The federally funded team is one of only five such teams in California. These teams are only called in for the most severe cases, Hadley said.
For the second day in a row, firefighters lit more backfires Monday on the eastern and western flanks of the Indians Fire. The U.S. Forest Service expects the blaze to be fully contained by July 3.

But a voluntary evacuation notice was issued Monday to residents of Arroyo Seco Road from Carmel Valley Road to the Arroyo Seco Campground.
Air quality questionable

With three wildfires burning, the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District has expressed concern about air quality in the Salinas Valley. The district doesn’t have the necessary instruments at ground level to measure the impact on air quality from the fires, but the situation is “not looking good,” said Ed Kendig, enforcement manager for the district.

“With so many fires going on, it is hard to predict where the smoke is going to impact,” Kendig said. “So if you can smell the smoke, chances are that you’re exposed to it and need to take steps to protect yourself.”

María Inés Zamudio contributed to this report. Contact Nick Rahaim at nrahaim@thecalifornian.com.
In your voice

http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080624/NEWS01/80624001/1002

 

[cousinkix1953]

I'm not sure which south bay fire they're working; but I hear activity on the new "national" V-Call (155.75250 mhz) frequency listed in our RR database...

 

[ScannerDude244]

I'm not sure which south bay fire they're working; but I hear activity on the new "national" V-Call (155.75250 mhz) frequency listed in our RR database...

I'll add that freq

 

[ScannerDude244]

Basin Complex Fire increases to 19,100 acres

As of this morning, the Basin Complex Fire, consisting of the Basin and Gallery fires, in Big Sur has grown to 19,100 acres and is 3 percent contained.


The two fires are expected to become one fire sometime today or early tomorrow.

The Indians Fire in Los Padres National Forest, Fort Hunter Liggett and private lands in southern Monterey County is now at 58,872 acres and is at 71 percent containment.


Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will visit the Basin Complex Fires Incident Command Post at 10:20 a.m. this morning in Big Sur.


Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Monday for Monterey County to provide greater assistance in battling the fires in the Santa Lucia Mountains.

He will be briefed on the status of the Basin Complex fires at Andrew Molera State Park, 20102 Highway 1, in Big Sur, as well as on the firefighting efforts statewide.

Afterward, he will speak with media, webcast live at www.gov.ca.gov.


http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/NEWS01/80625017/1002

 

[ScannerDude244]

Indians, Basin Complex Fires May Merge

Well I haven't saw the sun in about a week my house smells like smoke
http://www.ksbw.com/news/16728115/detail.html

They are stilling using 169.5375 Indians Comm
Basin Complex Fire LPNF net 170.550 tome 8 Cone Peak

They are pretty much using every frequency on NIFC


Now I have a question for smokey now that both of the fires are going to merge what do they use for command channels?

166.675 Air Tac-1 Air to Air
169.150 Air Tac-2 Air to Air
169.200 Air Tac-3 Air to Air
170.000 Air Tac-4 USFS Air/Ground
167.950 Air Tac-5 BLM Air/Ground
168.700 NIFC Cmd-1 NIFC Command 1
168.100 NIFC Cmd-2 NIFC Command 2
168.075 NIFC Cmd-3 NIFC Command 3
166.6125 NIFC Cmd-4 NIFC Command 4
167.100 NIFC Cmd-5 NIFC Command 5
168.475 NIFC Cmd-6 NIFC Command 6
168.050 FS Tac-1 USFS Tac 1
168.200 FS Tac-2 USFS Tac 2
168.600 FS Tac-3 USFS Tac 3
173.9125 FS Tac-4 USFS R5 Tac 4
173.9625 FS Tac-5 USFS R5 Tac 5
173.9875 FS Tac-6 USFS R5 Tac 6
166.725 INT Tac-1 Interior Dep. Tac-1
166.775 INT Tac-2 Interior Dep. Tac-2
168.250 INT Tac-3 Interior Dep. Tac-3

122.9250 AA/AG/FW/RW
122.8500 AA/AG/RW
122.9750 AA/RW
123.0500 AA/RW/Helispots
123.0750 AA/AG/RW/Helispo
123.9750 National Air Tan


172.4625? sounded Air Tac talking to another plane or helicopter

 

[SCPD]

I missed this thread for a few days. To answer the question, frequencies can be allocated on a temporary basis for more tacticals, commands, and logistics. These are not, and will not, become permanent allocations at this point. The agencies involved may have to start thinking of expanding the number of permanent incident frequencies in reaction to the increase in activity being seen in the fire business. Command frequencies are the ones normally in short supply as repeaters are so often placed on the highest point in the fire area and thus have the potential to interfere with other incidents.

By the way, you have the tacticals listed incorrectly. The nomenclature of Interior tacticals and Forest Service tacticals was done away with quite some time ago. They are all part of NIFC's National Incident Radio Support Cache now and don't distinguish between Agriculture and Interior. When it comes to fire it is all one big organization anyway, the daily shirt and apparatus colors are the only real differences. One of these years or decades a presidential administration will be able to get legislation passed and put the Forest Service into the Interior Dept. and rename Interior the Department of Natural Resources. It does make a great deal of sense to do so.

 

[ScannerDude244]

Thanks smokey.. i'm so confused with so many frequencies ahh maybe at the end of the fires we can correct all of them and post new ones we find.

 

[digitaljim6]

Basin Complex Freqs

Beside the standard LPF Forest Net 170.550 (169.900 in) and Tacs 170.475 and 172.350; and USFS R5 Tacs 173.9125, 173.9625, 173.9875, 168.050, 168.200, 168.600; and R5 Project 164.150:

Basin Command 170.0125 out, 169.750 in

West Air-to-Ground 172.5125
West Victor 135.975

East Air-to-Ground ?? (maybe one of those not verified below)
East Victor 130.200

Air Tactics 172.4625

King City Helibase 163.100

Other Victor 128.425 (maybe rotor-wing victor)

Others (not verified):
164.7125 (IR V-Call)
172.6125
169.700 (NOT 167.900)

 

[ScannerDude244]

video of DC10 at the fire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUA_mj35dWI

 

[digitaljim6]

Beside the standard LPF Forest Net 170.550 (169.900 in) and Tacs 170.475 and 172.350; and USFS R5 Tacs 173.9125, 173.9625, 173.9875, 168.050, 168.200, 168.600; and R5 Project 164.150:

Basin Command 170.0125 out, 169.750 in

West Air-to-Ground 172.5125
West Victor 135.975

East Air-to-Ground ?? (maybe one of those not verified below)
East Victor 130.200

Air Tactics 172.4625

King City Helibase 163.100

Other Victor 128.425 (maybe rotor-wing victor)

Others (not verified):
164.7125 (IR V-Call)
172.6125
169.700 (NOT 167.900)

And 168.475, 167.100 Command out along with others listed above
163.100 identified as Helibase Deck channel

 

[karldotcom]

That has to burn a lot of fuel....

 

[JayMojave]

Hello digitaljim6:

Thanks for the frequency list. I am located in Lancaster Ca near the USFS Fox Field, Tanker Base, and like to listen in on the Air Attack Tanker activity.

It seems like a lot of unpublished 172.xxx frequencies are being used, while not being seen in the published frequency lists. Even in your list a few are present. Maybe my lists in RR and Freq of nature are old?!??!? I try to scan the known frequencies and search the VHF Hi Band 162 to 174 frequencies when a wild fire is happening. Have found a handful of the 172.xxx frequencies not listed.

Jay in the Mojave Desert.

Beside the standard LPF Forest Net 170.550 (169.900 in) and Tacs 170.475 and 172.350; and USFS R5 Tacs 173.9125, 173.9625, 173.9875, 168.050, 168.200, 168.600; and R5 Project 164.150:

Basin Command 170.0125 out, 169.750 in

West Air-to-Ground 172.5125
West Victor 135.975

East Air-to-Ground ?? (maybe one of those not verified below)
East Victor 130.200

Air Tactics 172.4625

King City Helibase 163.100

Other Victor 128.425 (maybe rotor-wing victor)

Others (not verified):
164.7125 (IR V-Call)
172.6125
169.700 (NOT 167.900)

 

[digitaljim6]

Hello digitaljim6:

Thanks for the frequency list. I am located in Lancaster Ca near the USFS Fox Field, Tanker Base, and like to listen in on the Air Attack Tanker activity.

It seems like a lot of unpublished 172.xxx frequencies are being used, while not being seen in the published frequency lists. Even in your list a few are present. Maybe my lists in RR and Freq of nature are old?!??!? I try to scan the known frequencies and search the VHF Hi Band 162 to 174 frequencies when a wild fire is happening. Have found a handful of the 172.xxx frequencies not listed.

Jay in the Mojave Desert.

The "unpublished" frequencies I posted are only valid for the Basin Complex. They may or may not get assigned to anything else anywhere else this season. The choice of such frequencies depends a lot on what other federal users are in the area of the incident. What works in Monterey County may not work in Los Angeles or San Bernardino Counties.

It is quite common for the "standard" frequencies to be used only during initial attack and for small, short-lived incidents. When the powers that be realize that "this is going to take a while", they get things moved to frequencies specifically assigned for the incident. This keeps the "standard" frequencies clear for new and/or localized incidents and allows the regional operations people (South Ops, in your case) to more easily coordinate frequencies amongst incidents to minimize interference.

When aircraft are involved in a long-term incident, their frequencies need to be exclusive for hundreds of miles in some cases - something not easily done on a handful of "standard" frequencies during the summertime in our part of the country. Imagine an air attack plane working a fire over the San Gabriel Mountains. The plane may be 4000' above the local terrain, but about 10,000' above sea level. From that elevation, transmissions can be heard from quite a distance.

Don't forget about the VHF aircraft band. It is heavily used for firefighting activities. Look for "unpublished" frequency usage there, too. If military aircraft are active, look in the UHF aircraft band as well (225-400 MHz).

 

[ScannerDude244]

The "unpublished" frequencies I posted are only valid for the Basin Complex. They may or may not get assigned to anything else anywhere else this season. The choice of such frequencies depends a lot on what other federal users are in the area of the incident. What works in Monterey County may not work in Los Angeles or San Bernardino Counties.

It is quite common for the "standard" frequencies to be used only during initial attack and for small, short-lived incidents. When the powers that be realize that "this is going to take a while", they get things moved to frequencies specifically assigned for the incident. This keeps the "standard" frequencies clear for new and/or localized incidents and allows the regional operations people (South Ops, in your case) to more easily coordinate frequencies amongst incidents to minimize interference.

When aircraft are involved in a long-term incident, their frequencies need to be exclusive for hundreds of miles in some cases - something not easily done on a handful of "standard" frequencies during the summertime in our part of the country. Imagine an air attack plane working a fire over the San Gabriel Mountains. The plane may be 4000' above the local terrain, but about 10,000' above sea level. From that elevation, transmissions can be heard from quite a distance.

Don't forget about the VHF aircraft band. It is heavily used for firefighting activities. Look for "unpublished" frequency usage there, too. If military aircraft are active, look in the UHF aircraft band as well (225-400 MHz).

I been scanning for military aircraft for the past few days nothing! i'll keep scanning maybe something will pop up. I'm still picking up a lot of stuff from the Indians Fire.

 

[digitaljim6]

Updated 7-7-2008 AM

Beside the standard LPF Forest Net 170.550 (169.900 in) and Tacs 170.475 and 172.350; and USFS R5 Tacs 173.9125, 173.9625, 173.9875, 168.050, 168.200, 168.600; and R5 Project 164.150:

Basin Command 170.0125, 167.100, 168.475 out, 169.750 in

West Air-to-Ground 172.5125
West Victor 135.975

East Air-to-Ground 167.950
East Victor 130.200

Air Tactics 172.4625

King City Helibase Deck 163.100

West Aircraft Briefing 128.425
East Aircraft Briefing 128.475

Others (not verified):
164.7125 (IR V-Call)
172.6125
169.700 (NOT 167.900)

 

[SCPD]

Updated 7-7-2008 AM

Beside the standard LPF Forest Net 170.550 (169.900 in) and Tacs 170.475 and 172.350; and USFS R5 Tacs 173.9125, 173.9625, 173.9875, 168.050, 168.200, 168.600; and R5 Project 164.150:

Basin Command 170.0125, 167.100, 168.475 out, 169.750 in

West Air-to-Ground 172.5125
West Victor 135.975

East Air-to-Ground 167.950
East Victor 130.200

Air Tactics 172.4625

King City Helibase Deck 163.100

West Aircraft Briefing 128.425
East Aircraft Briefing 128.475

Others (not verified):
164.7125 (IR V-Call)
172.6125
169.700 (NOT 167.900)

170.0125 is Incident Response VHF Plan "IR 1" output. The input is listed as 165.250.

167.100 is NIFC Command 5 out, and 168.475 is the NIFC Command 6 output, but my listing shows the Command 6 input as 173.8125. 169.750 is shown as the input to NIFC Command 5. Are you sure you have paired 168.475 to 169.750? Are they linking commands 5 and 6 repeaters via one of the UHF logistics frequencies and simulcasting the two repeaters? This can often be the case on large fires where one command repeater cannot cover the entire fire. So you might be in a position to hear mobiles on 169.750 but also hear identical traffic coming out on a 168.475 repeater when they are not paired that way. Try 173.8125 from you location and see if you hear anything.

When one command repeater cannot cover an entire incident they still usually want only one command channel, that is why the two command repeaters, linked with UHF logistics pairs, simulcast traffic from either repeater input. There has been a one command channel to one incident management team principle evident on the incidents I've monitored or looked at reports from. When an incident gets large enough then it is divided into zones, with an incident management team for each zone, and then there is a command channel for each zone. In my experience, there has been more than one command channel for one incident, only when the incident has been zoned. I've seen two command repeaters, on two separately listed NIFC command frequency pairs, linked together using one of the seven listed NIFC logistics frequency pairs, on one zone and on the other zone had a third NIFC command pair using only one repeater because that zone could cover their area of responsibility with just the one repeater. I have yet to see three command repeaters being linked together to simulcast all the mobile command traffic on what would be considered one command network or channel. Your report, as typed, seems to indicate that repeaters on Commands 5 and 6, along with IR 1, have been linked to create a three simulcasted repeater command net for the entire fire. Is this the case?

It is important that we figure out if NIFC Command 6 is paired with 173.8125 or if some type of change has occurred. If a change has occurred and 169.750 is paired with Command 5, then we don't know what the input is for Command 6. If a change has occurred then 173.8125 is cleared nationally, or at least from the Mississippi River west, for another use, and we then have to figure out what that might be.

I would imagine that we are going to see the use of any of the seven sets of logistics, command, and tactical freqeuncies in the National Incident Radio Support Cache being used on a lot of fires because they have been permanently assigned for such a use. We will then see one or more of the five VHF repeater pairs in the federal government's "Incident Response Plan" used as commands and the outputs of IR "NC 1 Calling" (169.5375 out/164.7125 in) and IR 1 through IR 4 being used as tacticals, on a temporary basis on other fires. We would also see one or more of the four repeater pairs in the UHF Incident Response Plan" being used for logistics or for linking VHF Incident Response Plan repeaters, or any of those pairs used simplex, along with the two additional simplex UHF IR frequencies, in some combination to do the linking. With these first two groups of frequencies, I would imagine that the National Incident Radio Support Cache duty officer is able to authorize their use. Then there appears to be a third group of frequencies that are not listed at all and can be cleared for small areas on a case-by-case basis due to the absence of their use in that area, just as digital indicated. Approval for these probably has to be cleared by the NTIA. This is just conjecture at this point.

All of this is pretty complex. I would love to see an operations plan for the Communications Unit Leader position in ICS. Without it we can only guess as to the logic. The logic you have presented digital, is as good of a guess as I've seen. We are going to have to monitor and report here for a few years to see if some sort of logic or pattern exists before reaching a conclusion, if we can at all.

 

[SCPD]

By the way, is the 163.100 helibase deck frequency on a repeater? The 1/08 NTIA Redbook shows this as the output and 168.350 as the input for a federal government all agency itinerant repeater pair.