NEWINGTON, CT, June 13, 2001--New Mexico ARES/RACES members responded earlier this month to Red Cross calls for communication assistance. The activation came after wildfires in Lincoln County caused several evacuations as they threatened Ruidoso. Hams also provided supplementary communication for the firefighting efforts.
American Red Cross official Arthur Hoopes, KD5NDK, put out the call for amateur assistance June 1 to Pat Chappelle, WA5HOK, JP Kenmore, K5FBK, and Lincoln County ARES Emergency Coordinator and RACES Officer Rick Sohl, K5RIC.
Amateurs responded and worked steadily over the next four days. They set up communication between the Red Cross Office in Ruidoso, the shelter and command post at Gateway Church, a canteen at Homestead fire base and five mobile radio units that were taking people and equipment to many areas of the fire. They also moved food and supplies to the Homestead fire suppression team.
A second fire developed the following day near the Inn of the Mountain Gods. As a precaution, commercial power was shut down around 4 PM, putting the Sierra Blanca Amateur Radio Club and the Buck Mountain repeaters off the air. Hams assisting in the firefighting operation were forced to improvise. They reverted to simplex operation, connecting the same command posts as previously mentioned--just as they had rehearsed in training sessions. Hams again also provided transportation and communications for the Red Cross support mission.
Sporting his brand-new K5RIC call sign issued the same day, Sohl set up a relay station at his home. Sohl and Doug Jarred, KD5IJT, at the county Emergency Operations Center in Carrizozo used HF to communicate with other New Mexico ARES/RACES units and with the state EOC in Santa Fe. A secondary net was activated using a solar-powered repeater on Captain Mountain. Jim Ratchford, N5JER, parked his mobile unit at Gateway Church, and relayed KD5NDK's radio traffic. Bruce Mac Kenzie, KK5XZ, of the Red Cross staffed the Red Cross office.
ARES/RACES members in Rio Rancho set up a remote base to hit the Captain Mountain repeater and to keep in contact with members of the Lincoln County ARES/RACES team. ARRL Section Manager Joe Knight, W5PDY, and New Mexico ARRL SEC and RACES Officer Bill Kauffman, K6YEJ, provided communication support and information to local ARES members.
The Red Cross opened a shelter at the Ruidoso Convention Center to accommodate those evacuated from the Camelot area. Bob Barnes, K5RVR, from Pecos and other out-of-town Red Cross members came in to help run the shelter. Barnes used ham radio to coordinate with the local Red Cross office and the local ARES team members. Because the Red Cross was short of help, hams also assisted with non-communication-related tasks as well.
Sohl said the extended power failure was excellent training for Amateur Radio VHF/UHF operations without the use mountaintop repeaters. "This event highlighted one of the main reasons that Amateur Radio stations can provide reliable radio communications during major disaster events," he said. "They can improvise and set up special radio networks without repeaters or commercial power and still provide local and statewide coverage."
Sohl said many of the Lincoln County ARES/RACES members who pitched in for the fire emergency had only recently become licensed through the Sierra Blanca Amateur Radio Club classes in Ruidoso. "These new hams had joined the ARES/RACES team and trained for just such an emergency event," he explained. "The training created a team that could meet the challenges of commercial power failure and loss of repeaters."
As a result, Sohl said, hams from all over New Mexico monitored the statewide net and were packed and ready to go.
Sohl said that more than a dozen amateurs assisted in the recent fire emergency. In May 2000, hundreds of amateurs in New Mexico responded to assist in the Los Alamos fire evacuation and emergency response.
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