Amateurs Respond to Southwestern Fires

The Virgin Mesa fire currently covers 325 acres about 45 miles north of Albuquerque. [State of New Mexico Graphic]

(L-R) Gary Bonebrake, W5BI and Sandoval County District Emergency Coordinator Mike Scales, K5SCA in the ARES communications van.

NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 25, 2003--Amateurs in the vicinity of Sandoval County, New Mexico, had just wrapped up an activation to support emergency communication for personnel fighting the Virgin Mesa fire about 50 miles north of Albuquerque when they were notified to stand by for yet another fire right next to the city. Meanwhile, hams in Arizona remain ready to aid the fight to douse the 20,000-acre Aspen Fire north of Tucson. The Arizona fire is considered too dangerous for amateur volunteers, however.

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers in New Mexico activated to assist in the Virgin Mesa fire were released at midday June 24 and replaced by a Type 2 Forest Team, said Sandoval County District Emergency Coordinator Mike Scales, K5SCA. Hams could be called back in, however, if the fire blows up again. Fire officials in New Mexico have ruled the 325-acre Virgin Mesa fire--burning since June 22--to have been human-caused. Almost 200 firefighters are working on the blaze, and no homes or developments are threatened.

With much of the region's fire-fighting resources at the Aspen Fire in Arizona, Scales felt certain that his ARES team would need to be ready to help out, said Sandoval County ARES member Jay Miller, WA5WHN. Miller said Scales subsequently informed the ARES team that the Sandoval County's Emergency Operations Center had opened on a limited basis and that Emergency Manager Jess Lewis was headed for Jemez Springs, the site of the fire. "He also informed us to get our 'go bags' ready, and that he would update us every 30 minutes," Miller said.

Aided by three members of the Los Alamos ARES team, Sandoval County hams set up at the Incident Command post at the La Cueva Fire Station, Miller said. Traffic was coordinated through a 2-meter repeater in Rio Rancho, with Allene Sinclair, KB5WEV, and Marlin Allison, KD5QZK, handling net control duties. A number of hams had been deployed to the field as fire-spotters and to support operating fire units. Those in the field used VHF simplex, the Rio Rancho Repeater and two county fire radios to relay fire-spotter reports.

On June 24, a fire that broke out in a wooded area--called the Bosque--in the Albuquerque area caused some 600 residents to be evacuated and left an estimated 16,000 people without power. Gov Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency. Some 20 Sandoval County ARES members stood by to assist Bernalillo County ARES if needed, Miller said. The City of Albuquerque was able to handle the blaze, which destroyed an upscale home that was under construction.

Arizona Fire 25 Percent Contained

North of Tucson, Arizona, progress has been made to contain the Aspen Fire, which has destroyed more than 250 homes--some estimates put the number at more than 300--since it broke out June 17. Fire officials said that the blaze now is 25 percent contained. More than 1200 firefighters and support personnel continue working at the scene.

Smoke rises from the Aspen Fire on Mt Lemmon north of Tucson, Arizona. [Cliff Hauser, KD6XH, Photo]

ARRL Arizona Section Manager Cliff Hauser, KD6XH, said that Arizona ARES and RACES teams remain on-call, but that there is currently no organized Amateur Radio effort to support of the firefighters.

"Fire fighting officials indicate that at this point it is still too dangerous in the fire's vicinity for Amateur Radio operators or other untrained volunteers to assist," Hauser explained. Hauser also pointed out that high winds have been causing the massive fire to spread in sporadic and unpredictable ways.

Chuck Smallhouse, W7CS, reports that he and several other amateurs supported the Type I fire team brought in to contain and control the Aspen Fire. In addition to Smallhouse, the team included Chuck Michels, KB7RFI; Norm Martin, K7OLD; John Henderson, K7FCC; and John Glenn, K7RJR. "These hams took off their Amateur Radio caps at the door and donned fire team ones," Smallhouse said. He said the hams were needed to provide vital communications support to the just-arrived skeleton crew until the professionals showed up.

"They immediately jumped in, using their various experience and skills, to set up equipment in the section and to string temporary phone lines within the local high school buildings that the Team used for its headquarters," he explained. The radio amateurs also accompanied fire team members into the still-burning area to help install portable Forest Service VHF repeaters. Among other tasks, they also helped pass traffic over USFS VHF and UHF radios, spending several days of 12-hour shifts until permanent replacements arrived.

Arizona Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Fagan, WB7NXH, said a Red Cross shelter was opened briefly with only a few taking refuge there.

"The fire swept through pine trees ravaged by years of drought and a beetle infestation, wreaking havoc atop 9157-foot Mt Lemmon and heading down the north side in a wilderness area," Fagan said, adding that winds are hampering the firefighting effort.

Lost in the Arizona forest fire was the Cactus Intertie System's repeater equipment. The towers and repeaters were located very close to where the fire got its start atop Mount Lemmon, some 20 miles northwest of Tucson, and the Cactus site had machines for 6 and 2 meters, as well as 70 cm on the mountain, Hauser said. Also burned was the Zia Connection site, some 150 yards up the ridge from the Cactus site.

Fagan cited a ham who e-mailed from the scene to say that the flames went through "Radio Ridge" twice and that things did not look good on the mountain. "Mt Bigelow might be next," Fagan said. "We have several towers up there as well."

Several commercial radio antennas and Palm County Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and RACES repeaters also are situated on Mt Lemmon. The antennas and repeaters have escaped damage, Hauser noted, but they are currently off-line, as power lines servicing the site have been destroyed.

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