Kerr County Flood

[EAFrizzle]

I'll only say that based on my decades of experience with Red Cross/Ham Radio at the Boston Marathon and Head of The Charles Regatta they were not a net plus to EMS operations.

I can guarantee you they weren't a net plus here, either.

 

[rattlerbb01]

I can guarantee you they weren't a net plus here, either

From my weekend SAR experience, I can tell you that besides the certified SAR teams from all over and our severely overstretched local first responders, normal people from all over the area have made all the difference in the world. The amount of folks dragging their equipment and hand tools to sift through piles, donating diesel, time, wear and tear and paying their own employees to help out on the river is like nothing an outsider can imagine. I doubt there is much land clearing, rock grinding or driveway work going on within 250 miles of Kerrville this last week.

Radio related part of the post. I've been contacted a few times, somehow, by people that are aware that I ran the calls feed for Kerr County GATRRS. The feed was down from like 1:30 AM to 7 something on the morning of the 4th because our internet was out in the heavy rain and thunder where I live. The worst of the flooding traffic up to the time the wall of water reached just upstream of Center Point was not sent to Calls because of this, but I think that some locals actually recorded a lot of that. When I got internet back, I was able to hear Center Point desperately trying to evacuate their personal vehicles and whatever they could from their VFD property.

 

[EAFrizzle]

I was replying specifically to "Red Cross/Ham Radio".

Sixty years of living in Houston taught me quite well where real help comes from; plain people getting their hands dirty, as you well know. I've also seen enough waste and nonsense from the Red Cross to know that they're not reliable. It's almost incomprehensible that these cretins are in charge of the blood supply.

The Red Cross is really just corporate vampires promoting whackerism whilst preying on tragedy and compassion, in my jaundice opinion.


And just as a point of clarification, Center Point is a place and not the company so beloved by Houstonians, correct?

 

[speedway_navigator]

I've also seen enough waste and nonsense from the Red Cross to know that they're not reliable. It's almost incomprehensible that these cretins are in charge of the blood supply.

One of my fellow federal disaster workers said some red cross folks came to him and got a bunch of the foil blankets we carry. Later on he heard them telling the folks they handed them to the blankets were from the red cross. Every group has flies in the ointment.

 

[speedway_navigator]

I can guarantee you they weren't a net plus here, either.

Did the ARES group work with or in an EOC or independently?

 

[rattlerbb01]

I was replying specifically to "Red Cross/Ham Radio".

Sixty years of living in Houston taught me quite well where real help comes from; plain people getting their hands dirty, as you well know. I've also seen enough waste and nonsense from the Red Cross to know that they're not reliable. It's almost incomprehensible that these cretins are in charge of the blood supply.

The Red Cross is really just corporate vampires promoting whackerism whilst preying on tragedy and compassion, in my jaundice opinion.


And just as a point of clarification, Center Point is a place and not the company so beloved by Houstonians, correct?

Yes, Center Point, TX is a small town on the upper Guadalupe about halfway down TX-27 between Kerrville and Comfort. Good people.

 

[w5tsn]

look at the NIFOG book
National Interoperability
Field Operations
Guide 800 8tac

 

[speedway_navigator]

look at the NIFOG book

I glanced at my hard copy 2.01 and the pdf 2.02 but don't see any differences. I should see them on the introduction page since my 2.01 book from 2022 and the 2025 version both say this is the 14th year of printing the NIFOG. I let CISA know about the typos.

 

[cferguson4809]

Today at the very brief press conference, a reporter was asking about supposed problems with SO & PD communicating. From the little I've read Kerville PD & Fire use the 700 LCRA system, and SO is on the GATRRS system, apparently on a VHF site. Is there any type of ISSI connection or patch where they can monitor each other?

Yes, there are interoperability patches in place between the systems. I can only speak to the communications setup for the task force to which I am assigned—the Emergency Medical Task Force (EMTF). We are currently operating on both LCRA Fire Common 1 and GATRRS Regional Op 4, which are patched or gatewayed to one another. While coverage across the county is sufficient when both systems are used together, neither system individually provides complete or reliable coverage, which has proven to be a point of operational frustration.

Because my APX7000 radio is already provisioned for both LCRA and GATRRS, the communications technician assigned to our task force enabled a feature that allows the two aforementioned talkgroups to failsoft between each other automatically—meaning no manual switching is required on my part.

It’s worth mentioning that while this setup may be similar for other task forces, such as TIFMAS, I cannot confirm their specific configurations or practices, as I am not directly attached to those teams.

Note: Only some dispatches are being transmitted via radio. Routine and operational updates are largely being handled through GroupMe.

 

[JTexas539]

While I was in Hunt last Saturday I heard DPS troopers and neighboring LE using MURS 1 as a TAC channel for interagency access control (in and out of a staging area/checkpoint) verification somewhere in the area. I did not investigate further but discontinued used on the channel to not disrupt them.

 

[speedway_navigator]

Routine and operational updates are largely being handled through GroupMe.

When I first read that I thought it said grope me and thought 'Texas sure has changed from the cowboy days'