Dispatcher Mutual Aid
BRANCH MOUNTAIN RELAY
Wildfire Communications
Behind the Scenes
SIDEBARS...
| Branch Mountain Journal Incident Dispatcher Teams |
This article can be found on
page 43 of the Mar/Apr 1997
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.
The development of rapid-deployment Incident Dispatcher Teams in California received a big step forward in August, 1996, when 14 Incident Dispatchers from 6 counties were called out to respond to the Highway-58 Fire in San Luis Obispo County.
This article was compiled from after-action reports and statements by dispatchers Donald Stabler (Contra Costa County Fire), Bob Jessel (Santa Clara County Fire), Chuck Barker (Placer County Fire), Jeff Polczynski (Mountain View Fire), Dave Larton (Gilroy Fire), Joanne Bartholdy (San Jose Fire) and Randall Larson (San Jose Fire).
T he week of August 11, 1996 found lightning storms raising havoc throughout much of California's timberland. As the week of August 18 approached, resources of the forest agencies - CDF (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) and USFS (United States Forest Service) - were approaching their maximum draw down and local agency resources were thinning.
The largest of these fires started on Thursday, August 15th, when a car fire ignited some shrubbery in a campground off Highway 58 near Santa Margarita. Pushed by winds, the fire quickly took off up hillsides, fueled by thick brush that hadn't burned for decades. By 11:00 p.m. the fire had consumed 6,000 acres, a rate of more than 650 acres an hour. It was going to be a long and complicated process to catch up with, contain, and control this fire. By the time that happened on August 22nd, more than 2,000 fire fighters were involved in the incident - over 120 fire engines from more than a dozen California counties, 20 water tenders, 30 bulldozers, 6 helicopters, 4 air tankers. It had been the summer's largest wildfire, eclipsed only by the far deadlier Malibu firestorm during late October.
Right Place, Right Time
Don Stabler is a Senior Dispatcher for Contra Costa County Fire, and the past president of the California Fire Chiefs Association, Communications Section (Northern Division), which developed the concept of Incident Dispatcher Teams and had spearheaded IDT training. He had been called into OES headquarters in Sacramento to help coordinate the statewide mutual aid response when he received a call from the Highway 58 Fire on Sunday afternoon.
Command staff were having major communication problems and OES Assistant Chief John Cox requested the response of two mobile Communication Vans. Stabler suggested local agency Incident Dispatchers be used to staff the units, rather than rely on firefighters traditionally assigned from Incident Base. Chief Cox concurred, authorizing the deployment of 16 incident dispatchers along with the two Comm Units.
While OES and the State Fire Marshall's Office have supported the IDT concept, getting qualified local dispatchers onto call-out lists and inserted into the state mutual aid program hadn't yet occurred. Don Stabler was literally the right person in the right place to initiate what would become an unprecedented response of civilian dispatchers into the field to support fireground operations.
"Okay, it's Sunday afternoon, the state is on fire, and where I am going to find 16 dispatchers?" Stabler asked himself. Resisting the temptation to pencil in his own name and respond to the scene, Stabler made a number of phone calls to agencies he knew had qualified Incident Dispatchers. Within a few hours, he filled 14 of the 16 dispatcher requests.
The first group of dispatchers was deployed at 9 p.m. Sunday: Chuck Barker (Placer County) and Bob Jessel (Santa Clara County), assigned as Head Dispatchers, and IDs Yvette Marley and Karen Avara (Yolo County), Arden Beer and Tim Dixon (Los Angeles County), Joanne Bartholdy (San Jose), Jeff Polczynski (Mountain View), and Dave Larton (Gilroy).
CDF initially took charge of the fire, joined by the USFS when the fire spread to the Las Padres National Forest. Even though it was some 90 miles away from the fire, Incident Base had been set up in Paso Robles because it was the only area large enough to maintain the huge arsenal of command and support apparatus and personnel called in to manage this fire.
The first contingent of dispatchers arrived at base camp shortly before midnight, Sunday night. They were told to camp for the night and be back at 5 a.m. for assignment. Expecting to work in the comm van in base camp they were instead sent to a remote mountain top with one of the comm vans to support a backfire operation, burning off vegetation in advance of the fire to impede it's progress. After a hot breakfast in base camp, the 9 dispatchers - along with Engineer Don Scarlett of CDF/Riverside County and Redwood City firefighters Jim Skinner and Cliff Pierce (who maintained the OES Comm van), made the 3-hour journey to the top of Branch Mountain.
Meanwhile a second dispatcher "task force," consisting of Sabrina Giannona and LaJoyce Hayden (Santa Clara County), Jim Wheelis (Stanislaus County) and Teresa Zagalo and Randall Larson (San Jose Fire) arrived at 07:30 a.m., barely missing the first group's deployment to Branch Mountain. They were staged in Paso Robles as a contingency to staff a second remote communications relay.
Branch Mountain Lookout
Branch Mountain is the site of an abandoned USFS Lookout station some 3,771 feet in elevation. OES Unit 5262, which proved hardy enough in the steep, bumpy, windy, and dusty mountain road that access the Lookout, was set up as the remote comm unit.
"After our caravan arrived on the mountain, we were in awe of the view before us," said Chuck Barker. "At 3700 feet, the entire fire was in full view no more than three miles away. After collecting our thoughts (as well as a few pictures) we buckled down and set up our comm unit for duty."
"We were put to work on the radio right away, with one person talking and keeping manual logs, another as a back-up, and a third in charge of the cellular phone," said Joanne Bartholdy. "Some of the night shifters tried to sleep but not very successfully."
"We could see the entire ridge burning with flame lengths two to three hundred feet high," Bob Jessel said. "It was a bit hard to sleep after that. But our Safety Officer told us that the Operations Chief ordered the fire fighters and air crews to get the fire contained as they had people up on Branch Mountain. That made us feel better."
Shifts were rotated on a twelve hour basis beginning at 6 a.m. "During the off hours, there was not much to do except watch the fire and work in communications so it seemed that even though you were technically off-duty, you still pitched in," said Jeff Polczynski. Sleep was difficult to obtain since it was cold, windy, and smoky at night and hot, noisy, and windy during the day. Most slept on cots in the open air.
"Relay One" re-broadcast traffic between units working the backfire and the Comm Unit in Paso Robles, using one command and two tactical channels. Because they wound up relaying most of traffic from branch directors, division supervisors and staging managers as well, Incident Command decided to maintain Relay One for the duration of the incident. "They offered to arrange for relief for anyone who needed to leave," said Jessel. "All of the dispatchers agreed that we were sent up here to the mountain to do a job and that we would all stay until it was completed, and no relief was necessary."
On Wednesday, the two Yolo County dispatchers were called back to their jurisdiction, and two of the dispatchers awaiting assignment at Base Camp were brought in to relieve them. That brought LaJoyce Hayden and Randall Larson to Branch Mountain. The remaining dispatchers held in Base Camp were released.
Supported by deliveries of food and supplies trucked in by a San Bernadino County firefighter and a volunteer driver who made the 90-mile trek from Base Camp twice daily, the IDT maintained its assignment until Friday, after the fire had been declared under control. All the dispatchers journeyed back to Base Camp and, after an overnight rest in a Paso Robles motel, returned home.
Numerous positive comments from division leaders and command staff were received on the dispatchers' role in this incident. One chief felt the dispatchers at Relay One were the "backbone of this entire operation."
"The biggest compliments paid to us dispatchers were those we received from the firefighters who worked with us on the mountain," said Chuck Barker. "They were impressed with our abilities to work under trying conditions, with people we hadn't worked with before, to make the situation beneficial for the ground troops fighting the fire."
This response was important in giving Incident Dispatchers exposure and experience on an actual, large-scale campaign fire, and affording them the opportunity to show their abilities to a wide variety of fire personnel. The camaraderie experienced by those encamped on Branch Mountain was also an admirable example of dispatchers from diverse agencies being able to function as a close-knit team in an unfamiliar, field environment.
"This was an experience we will not forget," said Bob Jessel. "After all the training we have been through, all the yearly drills, we have finally proven that civilian dispatchers could do the job and free up the firefighters to do the job they were trained for."
