SouthOps Frequency

[AEFI]

I don’t think whatever they were saying was confidential, but from what I heard, this is a great resource for firefighting aviation buffs like me to know what aircraft are up or where they’re going without having to check FlightRadar24 every five minutes. I also think it’s a good resource for pilots going from North Ops control to South Ops. You can get a pretty good rundown just by listening to the incident, but I think what they should do instead of putting it on Broadcastify is have a feed on their website, along with some explanations of what the different things they say mean. That way, nobody is hearing something on the radio and then immediately posting it in their local Facebook group without really knowing what’s happening.

 

[vlarian]

CAL FIRE maintains five Intercoms. They replaced the old green phone system and, as far as I know, have always been CAL FIRE‑owned. In my area, the connections are either microwave, leased landlines (possibly T1s), and RoIP.
CDF Intercom channels are based on the old CDF regions: Coast Intercom, Cascade Intercom, Sierra Intercom, and South Intercom. These days, Coast and Cascade are cross‑patched and referred to collectively as the North Intercom. There is also an Inter‑Ops Intercom connecting ONC and OSC directly. ONC stands for Operations Northern California, and OSC stands for Operations Southern California (CAL FIRE’s names for the Geographical Area Coordination Centers). This system connects all CAL FIRE ECCs, contract county ECCs, and all Airtanker/Air Attack Bases. Some federal dispatch centers also operate on the CAL FIRE system.

The U.S. Forest Service has the North Zone Dispatch Net and the South Zone Dispatch Net. North Zone and South Zone are former FS names for the GACCs and are no longer used. These nets are largely unused today, serving mostly as a backup to the CAL FIRE Intercom. The N/SZDNs connect only to Forest Service dispatch centers and some airtanker bases. These travel via RoIP and a combination of links (microwave, leased lines, etc.).