Current Situation nocal fire storm

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mikeh

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fremont calif
this is unreal
Current Situation: State, local and federal firefighters continue to battle hundreds of wildfires throughout California. Fires are actively burning and continue to spread. Firefighters are prepared for the potential of new fires due to Red Flag Warnings issued for dry thunderstorm activity in the Northern Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade Mountain Ranges in northeastern California through 11 p.m. tonight. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet.

Fire Statistics
Total Fires: 1,420
Total Acres Burned: 356,134

Resources Committed
Personnel Committed: 18,608
Fire Engines: 1,377
Hand Crews: 465
Dozers: 331
Water Tenders: 375
Helicopters: 92

(These numbers are totals from state, local and federal firefighting agencies. Updated 6/28 at 9:00 p.m.)

Items of Interest:
Highway closures: State highways and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays are in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 36, 70, 96, and 151. Numerous county and local roads are closed as well. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations: Areas of Butte, Monterey, and Shasta counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders are in place for areas in Butte, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Shasta and Tehama counties. Residents are advised to monitor the fire situation in their areas, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures Threatened: 7,589 residences, 135 commercial, 2,856 outbuildings.
Structures Destroyed: 29 residences, 1 commercial, 21 outbuildings.



CAL FIRE Summary of Fires by County
Butte: The Butte Lightning Complex has burned 16,000 acres and is 20% contained. The Butte Fire Information Number is (530) 538-7826. Click Here for more information.

Mendocino: The Mendocino Lightning Complex has burned 35,700 acres and is 20% contained. The Mendocino Fire Information Number is (707)-467-6426. Click Here for more information.

Shasta & Trinity: The Shasta and Trinity Lightning has burned 40,000 acres and is 10% contained. The Shasta-Trinity Unit Information Number is (530) 225-2510. Click Here for more information.

Lassen, Modoc: The Corral Fire has burned 10,000 acres and is 5% contained. The Peterson Complex has burned 7,824 acres and is 90% contained. The Lassen-Modoc Fire Information Number is (530) 257-9553.

Humboldt: The Humboldt Complex has burned for 1,275 acres and is 50% contained. The Paradise Fire is north of Shelter Cove and is 925 acres and 40% contained. The Humboldt-Del Norte Fire Information Number is (707) 726-1225.

Tehama & Glenn: The Tehama-Glenn Lightning Complex has burned 17,541 acres and is 55% contained. The Tehama-Glenn Unit Information Number is (530) 528-5193. Click Here for more information.

Mariposa: The Oliver Fire is located in the Ponderosa Basin and is 2,603 acres and 45% contained. The Oliver Fire Information Number is (209) 966-4784. Click Here for more information.

Lake: The Walker Fire has burned 14,500 acres and is now 100% contained. The Walker Fire Information Number is (707) 967-1456. Click Here for more information.

Napa & Solano: The Wild Fire burned 40,000 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Santa Clara: The Whitehurst and Hummingbird Fires burned a combined 994 acres and are both now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.
 

MCIAD

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Ventura County Resources . . .

As I type this, our last OES Engine is enrt to Ukiah with a mixed OES T1 Strike Team fro all over SoCal. Probably the last 5 T1 OES Engines left.

VNC (inclusive of all Op area agencies) currently has deployed 15 T1 Engines, 5 T3 Engines, 2 Water Tenders, and lots of Overhead to 11 different incidents in Northern California. We have sent so many folks north, that we have in essence just two shifts worth of staff to cover 3 shifts. Everybody is working.

Not trying to "blow my Dept.'s trumpet", just saying this has turned out to be a truly statewide effort to put the fires out. Of course, NorCal did the same for us both last year and 2003. What went around has come around.
 
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Man there some many Strike Teams here it's crazy! Radios are going crazy with Basin Complex fire and the Indians Fire! May have to buy a few more this year.
 
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linuxwrangler

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Like many statistics I see reported, I don't like this information sheet - it's a bunch of useless numbers without any supporting explanation or even any link to where supporting information might be found.

One following links to "current incident information" would certainly be shocked to learn there are over 1,400 fires burning - up several hundred in just the past couple days. And with 18,608 personnel committed to 1,420 one could conclude that, on average, 5.3 people are dedicated to each fire. Divided into two 12-hour shifts and leaving a very small overhead for support that would leave two people to fight each fire. Absurd, of course.

So after staring at the numbers one can figure out that 1,420 is not the current activity but a total number of fires. But they don't say "since when" or what constitutes a "wildland fire". Do they have to exceed a certain acerage or when an engine heads out and radios back, "on scene - small patch of grass on fire - we can handle" is another "wildland fire" added to the tally?

And what counts as personnel committed? Total individuals who attended at least one event? Total currently on active firelines? Same questions for "structures threatened", various apparatus/aircraft committed, etc.

And even if they actually explained what the numbers represent, there is no context. How does this compare historically? Is the number of engines on the line 10% of available or 100% plus outside assistance?

It's bad. Real bad. Since the CalFire "information" sheet is a bunch of useless digits, just step outside in the Bay Area take a breath. Actually, don't bother going outside - the smoke is everywhere. We couldn't see Alcatraz from our office window. And it wasn't foggy. The sun is just a red ball. And most scary of all, the incident commander interviewed on TV said his crews were heading into day 10 without a break in sight.

A much more interesting site is the National Interagency Fire Center (www.nifc.org). That incident page shows that nationwide there are 51 large fires burning. Of those, 31 are in California - almost all in Northern California. Nationwide active-fire acerage is 431,109. California contributes 333,838 to that total.
 

MCIAD

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Here are some numbers from the official ICS-209 forms submitted twice a day for each incident. They reflect what is happening, where it is happening, and number of personnel who are assigned. It also lists needs as far as equipment and personnel.

Indians: 1125 personnel; 89% contained
Basin Complex: 1229 personnel; 3% contained
Lime Complex: 834 personnel; 23% contained
Yuba River Complex: 772 personnel; 59% contained
Hell's Half Complex: 356 personnel; 25% contained

Please note: All those labeled "Complex" contain as many as 50 separate fires, not all of them active at this point, but never-the-less, a separate incident within the complex.

This is just a sampling of the 25 - 30 fires/complexes that are ongoing incidents, and how it all gets so complicated to staff and manage.
 
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SCPD

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Like many statistics I see reported, I don't like this information sheet - it's a bunch of useless numbers without any supporting explanation or even any link to where supporting information might be found.

One following links to "current incident information" would certainly be shocked to learn there are over 1,400 fires burning - up several hundred in just the past couple days. And with 18,608 personnel committed to 1,420 one could conclude that, on average, 5.3 people are dedicated to each fire. Divided into two 12-hour shifts and leaving a very small overhead for support that would leave two people to fight each fire. Absurd, of course.

So after staring at the numbers one can figure out that 1,420 is not the current activity but a total number of fires. But they don't say "since when" or what constitutes a "wildland fire". Do they have to exceed a certain acerage or when an engine heads out and radios back, "on scene - small patch of grass on fire - we can handle" is another "wildland fire" added to the tally?

And what counts as personnel committed? Total individuals who attended at least one event? Total currently on active firelines? Same questions for "structures threatened", various apparatus/aircraft committed, etc.

And even if they actually explained what the numbers represent, there is no context. How does this compare historically? Is the number of engines on the line 10% of available or 100% plus outside assistance?

It's bad. Real bad. Since the CalFire "information" sheet is a bunch of useless digits, just step outside in the Bay Area take a breath. Actually, don't bother going outside - the smoke is everywhere. We couldn't see Alcatraz from our office window. And it wasn't foggy. The sun is just a red ball. And most scary of all, the incident commander interviewed on TV said his crews were heading into day 10 without a break in sight.

A much more interesting site is the National Interagency Fire Center (www.nifc.org). That incident page shows that nationwide there are 51 large fires burning. Of those, 31 are in California - almost all in Northern California. Nationwide active-fire acerage is 431,109. California contributes 333,838 to that total.

I will take a stab at a few of the points you have raised. What shows up in the statistics above for the total number of fires are those since the lightning hit a little over a week ago. As of yesterday the total number of wildland fires that have occurred in California since January 1st is about 4500. There is an exact definition for a "statistical wildland fire" is something I can't recite from memory but it can be the smallest of spots all the way to more than half a million acres. A large fire can start numerous spot fires but if they all originally resulted from a single ignition point they are counted as one fire. When it comes to human caused fire, the fire must have escaped any means of containment that may be present, such as a fire ring at a campsite, which is either a formally constructed fire ring or grille in a developed recreation area or an informally, user constructed fire ring when a person is camped outside of a developed recreation area. A containment device can also merely be a small area of cleared vegetation that was intended to keep the fire in one location. Abandoned campfires are put out every day by land management agencies and as long as they have not yet escaped from the containment means constructed for them, they are considered "non statistical fires." Campfires are not the only human caused fires for which containment might be constructed as areas are set up for welding, blasting, and for intentional burning such as debris piles and so called "prescribed fires (fires started to burn off fuels over a larger area than those confined to piles of fuels). In my career the smallest fire I ever took action on was a few square feet of vegetation outside of a rock fire ring constructed by someone who did not properly extinguish their fire and who lit it illegally outside of a developed campground during a period when such fires were not permitted. The largest I was ever assigned to was the 507,000 acre North Fork Fire that began from a firewood cutter's carelessly thrown cigarette in July of 1988, and burned on portions of the Targhee and Gallatin National Forests and in the southwest portion of Yellowstone National Park. Lightning may start dozens of fires in a relatively small area and by the time initial attack forces arrive at scene those dozens of fire may have already merged, resulting in those dozens only being counted as one fire.

Structure or vehicle fires are not considered wildland fires until they actually consume enough vegetation to consider them a threat to spread further into vegetation. As is the case with campfires, wildland fire personnel are frequently involved in putting out vehicle fires and are called to the scene of structure fires that may not involve any vegetation or very incidental amounts of vegetation. They are involved on these types of incidents to make sure a wildland fire does not occur, or are the only fire suppression force present in the area.

There is a definition for large fires that I can quote from memory. A fire is considered "large" when it equals or exceeds 100 acres in timber, or 300 acres in grass or brush. Timber includes vegetation types where commercial wood products can be harvested, including firewood, as long as the growth of the trees exceeds 20 cubic feet of woody material annually. As a result timber includes pinyon-juniper and oak woodlands with enough density to produce those 20 cubic feet.

The total number of personnel is an aggregate of the numbers of individuals assigned to active fires at given times. Those times are usually at 0600 and 1800 each day. Some of those people might be in camp eating, sleeping, etc., but they are still assigned to an active fire so they are counted. Once a fire winds down and is turned back over to the local jurisdiction people may be assigned to that fire each day for weeks until it is put into "patrol status", which means people are no longer exclusively assigned to the fire, but will, from time to time, take a look at the fire to see if there is any activity and take appropriate action. This patrol status can be everyday, or less often, until the fire is declared out. Out means that all combustion has ceased, without exception. Some large fires are not declared out until sometime during the winter following the fire. I've seen some large fires not declared out during the following winter due to a drought type winter and not declared out until a month or two of the next years fire season is experienced. A fire is considered active until it is declared out.

The greatest number of people assigned to active wildland fires nationwide in recent times (about 1950 on) has been about 30,000 if I am remembering correctly. I believe that was during 1988, when 9,600 of those were in Yellowstone National Park alone. Having nearly 19,000 in California is fairly significant when compared to that 30,000 figure, especially since there is only one large fire south of the Kern County line. When that many people are assigned to fire duties at one time it means that agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, not only has a lot of their fire personnel assigned to fire duty, but a significant number of people whose full time jobs are in recreation, timber, rangeland, wildlife, watershed, facility maintenance, administration, and many other functions. These people may be filling fire positions on hand crews, as crew bosses, or in the planning, logistics, and finance sections of the incident management organization. This greatly affects the workload targets of all the agencies involved.

I would agree that the statistical summaries cited in this thread may not have meaning to the average reader that doesn't follow wildland fire frequently. Generally the media is concerned with the same issues on large wildland fires: numbers of personnel involved, numbers and types of apparatus being used, numbers of injuries, numbers of homes burnt or threatened, acreage, and areas evacuated. When it comes to acreage the terms used by the media are pretty ridiculous when examined: lost, "darn we lost 1600 acres yesterday, we better go find them or the earth will be smaller when its area is counted at the end of the year;" and destroyed, same thing as lost, as if the area no longer exists.

The summaries are aggregations of many individual incident summaries, which in turn are summaries of lots of things happening on the ground. At some point this aggregation can get hard to understand as it is all quite complex Summaries have more usefulness for fire managers, who have enough experience dealing with them, to be able to take certain actions to prepare for more fires, should they occur, or for sustaining they existing situation for as long as it exists. There are trigger points that result in local, regional, and national preparedness levels as shown at the top of the national incident situation management report each day. Taking a look at the factors that are used to determine each level, explained somewhere on the National Interagency Fire Center's website is probably the best way to put the various numbers in context.

Another way of putting these numbers into some sort of context is to look at the incident management situation report of each wildland fire Geographic Area Coordination Center. The incident summary for each large fire is shown there and many of the areas have a summary of resources showing them as either committed or available.

I'm not sure if any of this helps. You raised a lot of complex issues.
 

SLOweather

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I'm not sure if any of this helps. You raised a lot of complex issues.

Everything helps, Smokey, especially when you go to such great lengths in explanation. Your posts are well written, well reasoned, and lucid. As a matter of fact, I've been thinking about gathering all of your posts here into a binder for future reference.

Seriously, I believe you could easily edit all of it into a print-on-demand book or PDF, and sell it.

Thanks for the time and effort that you put into your work here. As a similar contributor on weather forums, I know how long it takes to produce a post such as this.
 

mikeh

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Messages
366
Location
fremont calif
here are the freqs i have for the firestorm

here are the freqs i have for the firestorm
anyone can to this if they like


Command Butte Support All Branches 154.415
> > > Command CDF Command 7 Support 151.460
> > > Tactical White 3 Sterling Branch 154.295
> > > Tactical NIFC Tac 3 South Fork Branch 168.6000 N
> > > Tactical NIFC Tac 1 Hwy 32 Branch 168.0500 N
> > > Tactical NIFC Tac 4 Empire Fire 164.1375 N
> > > Tactical NIFC Tac 5 Rim Fire 166.7250 N
> > > Tactical NIFC Tac 6 Structure Group 166.7750 N
> > >
> > > Air-to-Air (FM) 151.2800
> > > Air-to-Air (AM) 123.025
> > > Air-to-Ground 151.2200 N
> > > Emergency Air Guard 168.6250 N
> > > Deck 122.925
> > > TOLC 121.000
Command Butte Support All Branches 154.415
Command CDF Command 7 Support 151.460
Tactical White 3 Sterling Branch 154.295
Tactical NIFC Tac 3 South Fork Branch 168.6000 N
Tactical NIFC Tac 1 Hwy 32 Branch 168.0500 N
Tactical NIFC Tac 4 Empire Fire 164.1375 N
Tactical NIFC Tac 5 Rim Fire 166.7250 N
Tactical NIFC Tac 6 Structure Group 166.7750 N


Air-to-Air (FM) 151.2800
Air-to-Air (AM) 123.025
Air-to-Ground 151.2200 N
Emergency Air Guard 168.6250 N
Deck 122.925
TOLC 121.000
154.220 OES Fire - Butte Fires command net
154.415 Butte Support - Butte Fires resource net
151.460 Command 7, Tehama fires command net
151.145, 151.190 tacticals on fires in tehama
151.385, 151.445 tacticals on fires in shingletown
151.265 Command 2, Shasta fires, Weaverville fires, MEU fires "Howard
Forest" (Cahto Peak cmd2 repeater activated, which comes over the
mountains into valley from Corning to Red Bluff via Mendocino Pass).
This freq is really a mess when everybody gets talking. Especially
Weaverville and Shingletown walking over each other.

123.975 tanker base redding, chico, chester
122.925 air tactics for various fires, I think Shingletown is primary
all VHF air tactics have been used off and on
151.220 cdf air ground - VERY busy

172.225 Lassen Forest
169.175 Mendocino Forest
171.575 Shasta forest
170.4875 Shasta Forest - Hayfork/Yolla Bolla District Net
172.275 Shasta Forest - Southfork District - barely readable in valley
170.000 USFS air to ground
168.050 tact on a mendocino forest fire
 

ankh

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radio situation changing fast also

After that night of mostly-dry lightning, we woke up at our usual campsite at about 5000' in the Mendocino north of Lake Pillsbury after that night of mostly-dry lightning and could see six plumes of smoke around us.

And -- damn. No cell phone signal, this year.

Where we camp, we've had Verizon service for years -- high enough on the mountain to be line of sight to Ukiah's airport beacon, high enough that we could use the phone until we went a few hundred feet downhill toward the lake. The Lake basin never has had cell work.

But for us it was reliable. We'd called in fires before and always been able to ask advice about fire locations and operations by calling the one local store or ranger district. Not this year.

Our little 2-meter ham radios (Yaesu 150s) scan a somewhat extended range -- we could hear the MNF air/ground saying they had a dozen fires in the lake basin (and "three jumpers") total. And of course that was only the beginning, more fires flared up over time where lightning had left them smouldering.

On our way out, we talked to crew at the Soda Creek ranger station (one firefighter there had just flown in from Idaho).

And what they told us is that the radio frequencies in use change every day, the only way to find out is to call the District office when it's open or use a scanner (which we don't yet have, and dagnabbit I just missed an Icom R2 that was briefly in the for-sale section .... that brought me here to this site).

Long preamble to short question --- that day, the Mendocino had a helicopter making bucket drops, flying in and out of Lake Pillsbury to pick up water. The ranger station told us the helicopter was operating on "200.8" and to listen for traffic there.

Strange frequency. Hard to find a scanner covering that. Are there any??

Note you can also check the FAA website
http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html
for temporary flight restrictions --- that will tell you a lot about where the fire activity is going on.
 

gmclam

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200.8 MHz

Long preamble to short question --- that day, the Mendocino had a helicopter making bucket drops, flying in and out of Lake Pillsbury to pick up water. The ranger station told us the helicopter was operating on "200.8" and to listen for traffic there.

Strange frequency. Hard to find a scanner covering that. Are there any?
200.8 MHz is right in the middle of over-the-air TV channel 11 (198-204 MHz).
 

ankh

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200.8?

Yep. I asked twice, wondering because it sounded odd. He was quite sure. Is it possible there's short-range use of that frequency now, for public safety work, with TV changing over to digital?
Else could be just a mistake by the ranger. They were, eh, a little busy that day. And busier now, with the fires still going.

But I want to get up into the Pillsbury Basin again soon, despite the smoke --so trying to figure out what scanner to buy to be able to cover the range of frequencies in use. First time I've looked for a scanner at all, pardon the elementary questions.
 

gmclam

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200.8 MHz

Digital television will be (or already is for that matter) using the same frequencies as analog television in the USA with the exception of what will become the 700 MHz band (current channels 52 to 69).

That being said, there is some shared use of the TV band for things like wireless microphones, but they extremely low power and short range. Certainly finding a scanner that receives 200.8 MHz is one issue, but I must also wonder what 2 way radios can readily operate on this frequency? And what channel bandwidth does it use?
 

scannerboy02

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California National Guard Soldiers Arrive at McClellan for Wildfire Ground
Training
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- More than 200 Soldiers reported to McClellan Air Park
today for training at the Wildfire Training Center there.
After receiving the necessary training and certification, these Soldiers will
support CalFire first responders with 10 Type II handcrews, truck
transportation support, and command and control personnel. Calfire will
train the National Guard personnel on firefighting techniques beginning later
this week. The Guard is also preparing to deploy eight bulldozers to assist
in cutting firelines.
The ground crews and bulldozers are in addition to the fire fighting
helicopters and other aviation support that the California National Guard has
deployed as part of the interagency effort to combat the wildfires.
Rotary-winged aircraft operating under the CNG have now dropped more than 1.2
million gallons of water on various northern California fires. Fixed-winged
aircraft using Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems have dropped more than
257,000 gallons.
The California National Guard retains robust capability to respond to other
contingencies should the need arise.
 

SCPD

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Yep. I asked twice, wondering because it sounded odd. He was quite sure. Is it possible there's short-range use of that frequency now, for public safety work, with TV changing over to digital?
Else could be just a mistake by the ranger. They were, eh, a little busy that day. And busier now, with the fires still going.

But I want to get up into the Pillsbury Basin again soon, despite the smoke --so trying to figure out what scanner to buy to be able to cover the range of frequencies in use. First time I've looked for a scanner at all, pardon the elementary questions.

I'm betting the person really didn't know radio frequencies very well and misquoted the most often used frequency for fire fighting and that is 168.200, otherwise known as "NIFC Tactical 2." It used to be called crew net and was often the only tactical available on large fires, but I'm talking back when I started with the Forest Service and we had to wait for a shift or two (12 hours each), or more, to have radios arrive from the Boise Interagency Fire Center radio cache. That was back in the days when crystals were used to tune frequencies.

Since this employee was likely not real radio and frequency savvy, he probably transposed the digits and left a few out also. I would not rely on information obtained at the local ranger station. The employees who really know their radio stuff work mostly in fire management and law enforcement. When incidents hit, they are the last people available for such a low priority question from the public. The remaining employees in other functions (recreation, timber, range, wildlife, and watershed) often only know what channel to put the radio on and very little else. The front desk people who interact with the public are not usually field savvy so they know even less about radios. Most of them are very good at interacting with the public but quite often would not know which end of the shovel to hold near a fire.

The best thing to do on large fires is to program in all the NIFC frequencies. You can find them under common frequencies on the Radio Reference Wiki site. Then I would also program the new "Federal Interoperability Channels" as they seem to be showing up as commands and tacticals on many incidents as reported by members of this website. There are now 80 channels per MHz instead of the old 40 when the signal width was not to exceed 25 kHz. With 12.5 kHz spacing the number of availaable frequenices doubled, at least in theory, when the narrow banding requirement for the federal government became effective 1/1/2005. As a result we are seeing a lot of new frequencies showing up just when the feds are being told to stop sharing information with the public about them. I say double the frequencies "in theory" because state and local forces may not have radios capable of operating narrow band, so often times the new frequencies cannot be used. Wait until 2013 when the state and local agencies will have to go narrowband, the number of both federal and state/local frequencies in use will really multiply then.

These are exciting times for radio hobbyists. Lots of new stuff to figure out. Threads like these are essential for sharing the results of monitoring nearby incidents. As a group we will figure out the new frequency allocations even without the help of the agencies.

I just wish I could hear all the traffic on all the incidents as my large fire experience is sufficient to be able to pin down what type of assignement a frequency has just by listening to the traffic content. I worked every section of large incidents except in finance, and they don't generate much, if any, radio traffic. I understand ICS well enough to be able to wade through it in my sleep.

Keep those scanners on search and report what you hear on this site!
 

SCPD

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California National Guard Soldiers Arrive at McClellan for Wildfire Ground
Training
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- More than 200 Soldiers reported to McClellan Air Park
today for training at the Wildfire Training Center there.
After receiving the necessary training and certification, these Soldiers will
support CalFire first responders with 10 Type II handcrews, truck
transportation support, and command and control personnel. Calfire will
train the National Guard personnel on firefighting techniques beginning later
this week. The Guard is also preparing to deploy eight bulldozers to assist
in cutting firelines.
The ground crews and bulldozers are in addition to the fire fighting
helicopters and other aviation support that the California National Guard has
deployed as part of the interagency effort to combat the wildfires.
Rotary-winged aircraft operating under the CNG have now dropped more than 1.2
million gallons of water on various northern California fires. Fixed-winged
aircraft using Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems have dropped more than
257,000 gallons.
The California National Guard retains robust capability to respond to other
contingencies should the need arise.

I have a fair amount of experience working with this state's national guard and with the U.S. Army as fire crews. Maybe things have improved, but as a crew boss I had to watch them like a hawk. They don't understand fire very well and take quite a while, if at all, to understand their role in the scheme of things. When I was picking up new Type II crews formed for large incidents I would rather have inexperienced regular agency employees than National Guard and Army personnel. The MAFFS support they give for dropping retardant is outstanding and the pilots don't take long to fit into the operation, it is those people on the ground that I've had less than outstanding experiences with.
 
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trooperdude

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New Start- Los Padres South

Santa Barbara is breaking a wind-driven fire on the Southern edge of Los Padres NF, with mutual aid from Ventura and points south.

This one is supposedly "human caused".

30 mph offshore winds at sunset.

Gap Fire
The ICS 209 report this morning indicated the fire is 35 acres in size, but a report from the Los Padres NF indicates that the fire is estimated to be 230 to 260 acres. The fire is located 3.5 miles north of Goleta and the northwestern edge of Goleta has been evacuated, approximately 40 homes. The fire currently poses a threat to the community of Goleta, Hwy 101, and Amtrak rail lines.

* Acres: 35
* Containment: 0%
* Total Personnel: 227
 
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