Getting Connected

Ah, technology - seeing if I can connect to a blog and to twitter too; hmmm...

6th Red Cross DAT Call

Saturday night after I was settling down I got a phone call for a DAT response in Fullerton.

I had to go pick up the Red Cross van at the fire station and meet my DAT supervisor at a local hospital where the client was taken to be treated for mild smoke inhallation.

We arrived and I listened to their story while paperwork was filled out. It didn't sound like a big fire, and the client said that her neighbors had knocked on her door to wake her up. After finding a valid hotel on the list, the client was discharged and we went back to the apartment to to survey the dwelling while they retrieved some belongings.

The fire was very minor limited to the bathroom where we believed there was a short in the ceiling fan, as indicated by the revealed wiring that was fused or melted together. The fire department had torn down the ceiling and insulation to get to it.

We finished up paperwork outside and the clients left to go to the hotel. Then I drove back to drop off the van and drive back home at about 2:30.

The clients were very grateful for all our help, they kept on saying. I was glad to do it without pay, it felt like a very worthy sacrifice of time and effort.

Are you ready?

We've had a lot of quakes lately - have you prepared water, food, emergency supplies for home or work, or your car?

New Truck - Toyota Tacoma

I'm very happy with my new vehicle - a 2004 Toyota Tacoma truck.

It is much better suited for camping and the response activities I participate in.

My friends say it's much more "me" than my previous Camry.

Dispatch Certification

I received my Emergency Dispatch Certification certificate and card at work - yay!

Solar Power Supply

I finished constructing a 12 volt power supply with a solar panel to recharge it.

The 50 watt solar panel provides about 2.25 amps in sunlight, but I didn't want it too big. The solar panel tilts up to face the sun and down for transporting.

I acquired a huge heavy battery for cheap; it has 170 amp-hrs capacity and weighs over 130 lbs, which is really impractical but its a prototype unit anyways.
There is a charge controller to it, and I'm sure it could attach a power inverter to it if needed. It requires a controlled power supply to keep a float charge on the battery, which I will need to see if I can provide that without dumping more money into the project.

Hopefully I can try it out in the field in the future.

Donut Dispatch

Here at Krispy Creme Dispatch Central, we coordinate the donuts of the world!!

Actually, in the background are the information screens in our dispatch center of CARE Ambulance.

CARE Ambulance

I'm happy that I was hired with CARE Ambulance last week and have been in training as a dispatcher.

Last week I went on some ride-alongs which were fun.
There's lots to learn in the office and lots of details, but I'm enjoying it.

Red Cross Chapter Driver Training

Today I took a class at the Red Cross to learn how to operate their vehicles during activities.

The chapter has vans and trailers, a canteen vehicle for feeding, and an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) that's mostly used for national deployments.

We learned how to open up the canteen vehicle to prepare to serve food. We saw the warehouse where they store supplies, and we drove the vehicles around the block.

5th Red Cross DAT Call

My phone rang around 1am for a DAT call in Brea.

Myself and Austin Miller responded to an RV fire in a parking lot of a shopping center.

The client was starting the vehicle and he heard a noise and opened the hood and a fire had started which soon engulfed the RV.

It was unfortunate that he had lost the 'home' that he had. I hope we'll be able to find him another place to live.

I'll be back at the chapter in a few hours for a scheduled Chapter Driving Class, but back to bed!

Vehicle fire on I-5 at Culver

In the distance I saw a plume of smoke on the highway, and as I got closer, the fire department had quickly extinguished the car fire.

A OCFA twitter said that 4 patients were treated for burns. I wonder how it started and if they extent of the burns.

I saw the passengers sitting off the side of the freeway talking to the FD.

EOC Tour to Newport Beach RACES

On Wednesday this past week I helped give a tour of the Orange County Emergency Operations Center and RACES Room to members of the Newport Beach RACES unit and Nerport Beach CERT team, with my friend Randy Benicky of OCRACES.

Randy is a retired deputy and a former Control One supervisor, and he gave many interesting facts about the center.

This was the third tour I've spoken on, much to the appreciation of Ken Bourne. I'm hoping our tours can be developed into a formal training outline, but I think that's up to me!

Net Control from a cafe

Helping out OCRACES today on a Red Flag Patrol - its definitely more comfortable to be in an air-conditioned cafe at a table with my laptop than in my hot car!

Setting up two portables with mics and connecting them to a left-right earphone splitter works pretty well.

A fireproof home

Yesterday on fire patrol we stopped by the side of the road and talked to a construction worker; they were rebuilding a home that was burned down two years ago in the Santiago Fire of '07.

What's interesting is that all the walls are made of concrete and structural steel, from 10 to 16 inches thick! And there's a fire-lookout room on top with windows all around! The concrete-made stones used for decorative siding have heat-resistant properties too.

Now that sounds more fire-proof!

At Red Cross EOC for SONGS Graded Exercise

This morning I helped out with the Orange County Red Cross for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) graded exercise.

This was a drill simulating an emergency event, training how the Red Cross would respond.

I sat at the radio desk monitoring traffic and keeping a log.

Red Flag Warning prompts OCRACES Fire Patrols

A local Red Flag Warning starts tomorrow thru Thursday, and the OCRACES group will activate and perform our fire patrols.

We'll focus on Patrol Areas 2 & 3, Santiago Cyn areas and the Ortega Hwy. At a previous training, OCFA advised there was active arsonist activity in those areas.

Beginner's HF Rig Installed

I finished installing and tuning ny first HF rig, after many trips to the hardware and radio stores for parts and advice.

I found that the dipole antenna works best when strung out straight - 'flat-top' it is called (see roof picture); the automatic tuner seems pretty picky but has tight tollerances.

I've heard contacts across the nation and made my first brief contact yesterday from Missouri

Hopefully the rig will give me much good use.

Bendix King radio for command post response

I just received a Bendix King VHF radio (from Ebay) that I got programmed with the fire frequencies OC uses. It is quite well-built and feels like a brick - long and heavy!

I plan to use it when responding to fire command posts for comms support work with RACES.


And what timing - just last night a small fire started:

From an email -
----------

"A new fire started last night in the Orange County area.  This fire is known as the Ortega Incident and is based on the Ortega 7 miles west of El Cariso Village.  At this time the fire has burned 25 acres and has 0% containment.  The Orange County EOC is not activated at this time.  There have been no requests for Communications Division support at this time."

----------

Website launched! ... barely

I finally published an initial website, www.ocradios.com - just a cover page.

I really didn't like the rudimentary template that was offered (yuck), but I have a big learning curve to get over to design it so its both functional and attractive.

Heatwave and Fires in OC this week

This week we had a heatwave in the Southland and some fires broke out. All the activity is definitly increasing our mental readiness stance.

Excerpts from the news:

"Flames are chasing residents from homes as four Southern California wildfires rage untamed this morning.‬ ‪A heat wave with triple digit temperatures and single digit humidity levels are adding to the misery of firefighters already coping with steep terrain and dense thickets of bush and brush.‬ ‪
More than 3,200 acres has burned since Tuesday.‬ ‪

The Rancho Palos Verdes fire erupted last night and quickly spread, damaging three homes and several garages and outbuildings. But firefighters managed to keep it from expanding overnight.‬ ‪The 100-acre blaze is 35 percent contained.‬ ‪

The fire near La Canada Flintridge began to kick up again yesterday afternoon, a day after it began in the Angeles National Forest. It has now burned 1,500 acres and is about 10 percent contained.‬ ‪

To the east, another fire in the San Gabriel Mountains is 60 percent contained with 2,000 acres burned in the past four days.‬ ‪

To the west in Riverside County, another wildfire has blackened 600 acres and authorities have urged residents of 12 homes near Hemet to leave.‬ ‪

Farther north in Monterey County, 100 homes were evacuated about four miles from the community of Soledad. The fire burned more than 2,000 acres of steep grasslands.‬"