WRHS218 Posted July 20 Report Share Posted July 20 Last night at 2310 hrs my son-in-law called me and woke me up. He said he and my daughter were outside watching a wildfire on a mountain that is less than two miles from my house. I got up and went into the living room and could see the flames. I turned on my 935G+ and moved to the Cal Fire Command frequency and the County Sheriff's frequencies. We talked for a few more minutes about evac routes which would be different for both of us and chose a GMRS channel for contact in case we had to leave. I called a neighbor who lives close and let him know and heand his wife came up to our house as they didn't have a view of the incident. As we got settled in our dark living room I turned on my second 935G+ and brought up the Cal Fire tactical channels and found which two they were using. At that point We could hear the local SO as they were trying help get gates open on the dirt roads crossing private lands for Cal Fire. We could here Cal Fire setting up the Incident Command post and after units from as far as two hours away arrived we could here the fire teams talking to each other as they reached and worked the fires. My neighbors left at a 0130 and my wife went to bed at 0230. I sat in a dark room watching the fire and listening to the fire fighting activities until the sun came up a couple of hours ago. There are a lot of radios that can do what the 935G+ can do as well as and maybe better. However, I had all of the frequencies programmed into both radios in advance and they are always charged up and ready to use. As I sit here this morning looking at the burn area so close to my house and listening to the fire fighters give turn overs to the next shift I realize how important having a good radio/radios can be in emergencies. Went tend to use our radios as a fun tool or toy. We like to get on line and argue and complain about things that don't really matter, comparing the size of our antennas. Program your radios with frequencies that can help in an emergency and keep them charged up. Learn to use your equipment and have a plan. The fire was burning 1/4 mile below six towers on the mountain top that have the local amateur repeaters and a lot of commercial antennas (no GMRS repeaters). Thankfully the fire didn't go that direction. The fire went in the opposite direction from us. I can no longer see the fire so it looks like we are safe this time. At this point no lives were lost and no permanent structures were destroyed with no firefighter injuries. I now return you to the latest thread on FCC ambiguity... WRXB215, onemanparty, TrikeRadio and 6 others 7 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRWE456 Posted July 20 Report Share Posted July 20 Thanks for the story! Glad you are safe! I use my 935G+ for the same things. I also have a couple of Uniden scanners that are on whenever we are awake at home. The scanners are faster but with just seven or eight frequencies for local emergency services to scan the 935's are fast enough. I use the radios for scanning while out and about and as mobile's with mag mount antennas. They are a very versatile and capable radio. I have three of them. WSDE521 and WRUU653 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSDE521 Posted July 20 Report Share Posted July 20 45 minutes ago, WRHS218 said: Last night at 2310 hrs my son-in-law called me and woke me up. He said he and my daughter were outside watching a wildfire on a mountain that is less than two miles from my house. I got up and went into the living room and could see the flames. I turned on my 935G+ and moved to the Cal Fire Command frequency and the County Sheriff's frequencies. We talked for a few more minutes about evac routes which would be different for both of us and chose a GMRS channel for contact in case we had to leave. I called a neighbor who lives close and let him know and heand his wife came up to our house as they didn't have a view of the incident. As we got settled in our dark living room I turned on my second 935G+ and brought up the Cal Fire tactical channels and found which two they were using. At that point We could hear the local SO as they were trying help get gates open on the dirt roads crossing private lands for Cal Fire. We could here Cal Fire setting up the Incident Command post and after units from as far as two hours away arrived we could here the fire teams talking to each other as they reached and worked the fires. My neighbors left at a 0130 and my wife went to bed at 0230. I sat in a dark room watching the fire and listening to the fire fighting activities until the sun came up a couple of hours ago. There are a lot of radios that can do what the 935G+ can do as well as and maybe better. However, I had all of the frequencies programmed into both radios in advance and they are always charged up and ready to use. As I sit here this morning looking at the burn area so close to my house and listening to the fire fighters give turn overs to the next shift I realize how important having a good radio/radios can be in emergencies. Went tend to use our radios as a fun tool or toy. We like to get on line and argue and complain about things that don't really matter, comparing the size of our antennas. Program your radios with frequencies that can help in an emergency and keep them charged up. Learn to use your equipment and have a plan. The fire was burning 1/4 mile below six towers on the mountain top that have the local amateur repeaters and a lot of commercial antennas (no GMRS repeaters). Thankfully the fire didn't go that direction. The fire went in the opposite direction from us. I can no longer see the fire so it looks like we are safe this time. At this point no lives were lost and no permanent structures were destroyed with no firefighter injuries. I now return you to the latest thread on FCC ambiguity... I agree, I have another one ordered, should be here Monday. I think they will be very useful in those kinds of situations. Where I live the majority of threats are weather related!! Bad storms knocking out power trees down blocking exits and of course hurricanes!! I do have 3 acres of woodlands and swampy areas. Of course someone else in my neighborhood could have wildfires near their homes, along with myself. I only have one neighbor that has GMRS radios, but several others that have children that have FR’s . SteveShannon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRUU653 Posted July 20 Report Share Posted July 20 It’s good to hear you’re safe. It’s great that you had discussions on evacuation routes and having the radios programmed for the necessary frequencies could potentially give you time sensitive information on doing an evacuation if needed. We had a fire not far from us a few years back (thankfully not as close as yours) and the event was partially responsible for my renewed interest in radios. When the next one happened and I watched from my back yard as the helicopters and planes were making their drops I was able to listen in on the fire fighters. I felt pretty good about how they got after it and didn’t hesitate to call for more air support. Again, it’s good to hear you are safe. Thanks for sharing. WSDE521 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRHS218 Posted July 20 Author Report Share Posted July 20 The picture was taken at 2316 last night using the Night setting on my phone. onemanparty, TrikeRadio and WRZD727 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSDE521 Posted July 20 Report Share Posted July 20 1 minute ago, WRHS218 said: The picture was taken at 2316 last night using the Night setting on my phone. Damn that’s a big fire , hope no one has been injured or homes damaged or lost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRUU653 Posted July 20 Report Share Posted July 20 43 minutes ago, WRHS218 said: The picture was taken… Well that’s just a bit too close, WSDE521 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALO50 Posted July 20 Report Share Posted July 20 Check out WATCH DUTY. It's our go to phone app during fire season. TrikeRadio and WSDE521 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRHS218 Posted July 21 Author Report Share Posted July 21 We use Watch Duty and Flightradar24 regularly. Flightradar to watch Fire command and control aircraft and tankers during daylight hours. Great apps. TrikeRadio 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrikeRadio Posted July 21 Report Share Posted July 21 9 minutes ago, WRHS218 said: We use Watch Duty and Flightradar24 regularly. Flightradar to watch Fire command and control aircraft and tankers during daylight hours. Great apps. I do too. My parents live in an area in central California where they have had to evacuate their home several times of the past 10 years because of fires. Thankfully they have not lost their home to fire ... yet. My father-in-law and mother-in-law did lose their home in Colorado to a wildfire 6 or so years back. I am constantly using Watch Duty and Flightradar websites to monitor fires... and also https://www.broadcastify.com I have not had my GMRS radios for a long time but I will be programming them for local emergency use like that when we are in their area up there. Thankfully I don't live in an area that is really threatened by wildfires... but big quakes are of course a threat and I keep my radios ready for those kinds of emergencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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