[SCCC] Fwd: Ham radio volunteers helped in Thomas Fire

[Dennis Vernacchia]

I'll be making a donation...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Robert Gonsett" <robert.gonsett at gmail.com>
Date: Jan 2, 2018 1:20 PM
Subject: Ham radio volunteers helped in Thomas Fire
To: "W6VR" <w6vr at amsat.org>
Cc:


This is a fascinating article about the co-joining of Amateur Radio and
social media during the Thomas Fire. While the imbedded video (almost two
hours long) is hardly worth watching, the text of the story becomes more
and more interesting as you read on:



http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/ojai/
2018/01/01/amateur-radio-volunteers-who-helped-during-
thomas-fire-seek-replace-lost-gear/994772001/

Amateur radio volunteers who helped during Thomas Fire seek to replace lost
gear
Gretchen Wenner <http://www.vcstar.com/staff/10060598/gretchen-wenner/>

As the Thomas Fire roared to life on the night of Dec. 4, a video camera in
Ojai caught what is among the first video images of the blaze.

The camera on Sulphur Mountain Road was pointed toward Santa Paula, where
the wildfire started south of Thomas Aquinas College off Highway 150 around
6:30 p.m.

A group of ham radio volunteers who operate the camera -- part of a network
of shared equipment around the county -- first saw flames on screen around
7:15 p.m. Within 15 minutes, they had the camera's feed streaming live on
YouTube.

"I turned around and called all of the people I knew," said Benjamin
Kuo, who was among the amateur radio operators closely monitoring the
fire's path.

Such volunteers ended up playing a crucial role as the fire exploded toward
Ventura, Ojai and eventually into Santa Barbara County. An amateur radio
group was activated to provide communication between Red Cross shelters,
staffing at least four evacuation centers, including ones in Ojai and at
the Ventura County Fairgrounds. The group, known as ACS/ARES, for Ventura
County Auxiliary Communication Service, was also deployed to the county's
emergency operations center, according to the National Association of
Amateur Radio news site.

Kuo, a 45-year-old Newbury Park resident who founded tech-news site
socaltech.com, has been an amateur radio operator for three years.

Even before the Thomas Fire, Kuo knew the hobby can play a
critical service during disasters. When Hurricane Maria hit the country
of Dominica in September, he helped get messages from the U.S. Embassy
there. For three days, he said, amateur radio provided the country's only
communication while phones and internet were cut off.

During the Thomas Fire, Kuo helped bridge the workings of the amateur radio
crowd with that of social media.

Through his Twitter account, @ai6yrham <http://twitter.com/ai6yrham> -- his
call sign as issued by the Federal Communications Commission -- Kuo tweeted
prolifically during the fire. He not only recounted traffic from emergency
scanners, but also posted screen grabs of helicopter and air tanker flight
paths that indicated exactly where firefighting operations were most active.

"You could see which house they were dropping Phos-Chek on," he said.
[image: Image showing tracking on one of the helicopters as]

Image showing tracking on one of the helicopters as it flew over Toro
Canyon area to aid firefighters during the Thomas Fire. (Photo: BENJAMIN
KUO/CONTRIBUTED IMAGE)

Kuo's Twitter feed, along with others such as Simi Valley resident Thomas
Gorden's @VCScanner <http://twitter.com/VCScanner>, provided a stream of
detailed, real-time information that was hard to find elsewhere. Even some
firefighters working the line would check his feed to see what was going on
in other areas of the fire, he said.

"It's a very powerful combination," Kuo said. "The amateur radio folks may
not necessarily be on social media."

Likewise, social media users might not know about amateur radio, he said,
with its talk of repeater systems, high-speed mesh nodes and other
tech-heavy chatter.

But amateur radio operators who provided fire information also ended up
losing gear to the blaze.

Now, Kuo is helping out again.
[image: One of the first images, taken by remote equipment,]

One of the first images, taken by remote equipment, of the Thomas Fire on
the night of Dec. 4, 2017. Investigators would later inquire about the
image and video of the event to aid in their work. (Photo: BENJAMIN
KUO/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

A ham radio site on Reeves Road in Ojai was overrun by the fire, which
"cooked a lot of stuff," Kuo said. "All of it was part of the information
network during the fire."

Kuo has organized a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of the network aimed at
raising $5,000. As of Monday night, $1,750 had been raised.

The funds will be distributed among the ham radio operators who run the
repeater network, Kuo said. Not only will it replace lost equipment, but it
will enhance the station with items like additional cameras, solar panels,
batteries and other hardware.

In addition, the money will add a weather station to the Ojai site.

"Wouldn't it have been useful to know what the wind was doing during the
fire?" Kuo said, adding that all of the money is going to others, not to
him.
[image: The remains of equipment used to help maintain communications]

The remains of equipment used to help maintain communications and track the
event after the fire overcame the position. (Photo: BENJAMIN
KUO/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The fundraising page can be found at http://bit.ly/2lz8gJ3

Also Monday, the Thomas Fire's 29th day, containment stayed at 92 percent
and the burn area totaled 281,893 acres. The fire, which became the largest
in California's modern history on Dec. 22, destroyed more than 1,000
structures, including 775 houses. Two deaths are linked to the incident.
Cal Fire Engineer Cory Iverson, 32, died while battling the blaze outside
Fillmore on Dec. 14. Santa Paula resident Virginia Pesola, 70, was found
Dec. 6 at the site of a car crash on Wheeler Canyon Road, which was under
mandatory evacuation orders.

Los Padres National Forest officials now oversee the fire. Remaining active
areas in rugged wilderness areas at the blaze's northern edge are being
allowed to burn out.