1 00:00:04,943 --> 00:00:07,693 (crackling fire) 2 00:00:13,100 --> 00:00:21,020 (upbeat drum music) 3 00:00:32,220 --> 00:00:34,240 Okay we're at NIFC, it's the middle of winter, 4 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:35,650 and we're gonna go talk to some folks 5 00:00:35,650 --> 00:00:38,940 at the National Incident Radio Support Cache. 6 00:00:38,940 --> 00:00:40,800 This is where they manage the inventory 7 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,160 of radios that go out on incidents nationwide. 8 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:45,570 So we're just gonna get an overview of how these guys 9 00:00:45,570 --> 00:00:47,770 do their jobs and what's in the building 10 00:00:47,770 --> 00:00:49,510 and how they fix the radios, service them, 11 00:00:49,510 --> 00:00:52,133 all that good stuff, so let's take a look. 12 00:00:53,710 --> 00:00:55,870 To me when I walk in here, this is pretty impressive. 13 00:00:55,870 --> 00:00:58,610 I mean, I was describing to you this kinda looks like 14 00:00:58,610 --> 00:01:01,170 the Home Depot of radio caches. 15 00:01:01,170 --> 00:01:03,710 - Well, and in actuality, that's kinda what it is 16 00:01:03,710 --> 00:01:07,910 because we have in excess of 8,000 handheld radios, 17 00:01:07,910 --> 00:01:12,760 about 150 VHF repeaters, about 100 UHF repeaters, 18 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:17,530 aircraft link kits, remote kits, we've got a lot of radios. 19 00:01:17,530 --> 00:01:20,830 - These radios are primarily sent to the larger fires. 20 00:01:20,830 --> 00:01:21,663 - Absolutely. 21 00:01:21,663 --> 00:01:22,940 - And the districts, obviously have 22 00:01:22,940 --> 00:01:24,710 their inventory of radios. 23 00:01:24,710 --> 00:01:26,400 - The firefighter, on the ground, 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,300 when they get a radio from the cache. 25 00:01:29,300 --> 00:01:32,410 It's going to be a radio that they are expecting. 26 00:01:32,410 --> 00:01:35,180 It's a radio that they already know how to use. 27 00:01:35,180 --> 00:01:39,160 - I think about, the batteries that these things go through, 28 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,850 and I'm trying to remember what my expectations 29 00:01:42,850 --> 00:01:45,620 were for batteries, I guess I usually would just run them 30 00:01:45,620 --> 00:01:47,110 until I started getting the blinking light 31 00:01:47,110 --> 00:01:48,470 and then I'd pull my cassette 32 00:01:48,470 --> 00:01:49,740 of little taped together batteries 33 00:01:49,740 --> 00:01:51,340 and slam them in there - Slap them in there, yes. 34 00:01:51,340 --> 00:01:53,283 - And I remember thinking that 35 00:01:53,283 --> 00:01:56,470 I was packing a lot of batteries. 36 00:01:56,470 --> 00:01:58,370 So do you think the batteries are getting better? 37 00:01:58,370 --> 00:01:59,810 - The batteries are definitely getting better. 38 00:01:59,810 --> 00:02:01,910 The battery chemistry is getting better, 39 00:02:01,910 --> 00:02:02,860 and everything like that, 40 00:02:02,860 --> 00:02:06,620 but as we add more bells and whistles to our radios, 41 00:02:06,620 --> 00:02:08,290 they suck more juice. 42 00:02:08,290 --> 00:02:11,410 One thing I can tell you about AA batteries is 43 00:02:11,410 --> 00:02:14,440 heavy day, heavy fire season, middle of the summer, 44 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:19,440 we go through in excess of 350,000 AA batteries a day. 45 00:02:20,525 --> 00:02:21,790 (rewinding noise) 46 00:02:21,790 --> 00:02:25,400 350,000 AA batteries a day. 47 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,700 That's nationally, not just here out of the cache. 48 00:02:28,700 --> 00:02:30,990 That's all of the fires, all of the incidents, 49 00:02:30,990 --> 00:02:32,000 everywhere in the country. 50 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,310 350,000 AA batteries a day. 51 00:02:34,310 --> 00:02:36,330 That's a lot of AA batteries. 52 00:02:36,330 --> 00:02:38,260 - [Man On Radio] Okay, I copy. 53 00:02:38,260 --> 00:02:40,930 - So what we have here is kind of our museum, 54 00:02:40,930 --> 00:02:43,460 'cause like we were talking about earlier, 55 00:02:43,460 --> 00:02:45,270 you can't figure out where you're gonna go 56 00:02:45,270 --> 00:02:47,380 until you know where you came from. 57 00:02:47,380 --> 00:02:49,170 I can remember working for a crew 58 00:02:49,170 --> 00:02:52,740 for DNR back in the day, if we had 59 00:02:55,060 --> 00:02:58,470 two radios like this on a crew, we were happy. 60 00:02:58,470 --> 00:03:02,120 And let me tell you, those were a bear to lug around. 61 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:04,500 It's got four channels on it. 62 00:03:04,500 --> 00:03:09,030 The MX 330, this was a two-channel radio, 63 00:03:09,030 --> 00:03:10,750 but I'll tell you what, 64 00:03:10,750 --> 00:03:15,180 this was a heck of a lot easier to pack than that pack set. 65 00:03:15,180 --> 00:03:18,310 Just before we went to the King radios, 66 00:03:18,310 --> 00:03:22,030 we had the MX 360, now you've got eight channels. 67 00:03:22,030 --> 00:03:25,890 And these are a synthesized radio, 68 00:03:25,890 --> 00:03:28,040 so they can be programmed, 69 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,330 but not programmed in the field, 70 00:03:31,330 --> 00:03:35,170 so when we finally went to the King radio, 71 00:03:35,170 --> 00:03:37,560 which is a field-programmable radio, 72 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,523 that changed the whole ball game. 73 00:03:40,550 --> 00:03:43,270 When the equipment is coming back from a fire, 74 00:03:43,270 --> 00:03:46,070 the first place that it's going to stop is rework, 75 00:03:46,070 --> 00:03:49,280 which is the area that we're in right now, 76 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,010 and that's where the folks would go through, 77 00:03:53,010 --> 00:03:57,260 clean the kit up, get all the junk and debris out of it, 78 00:03:57,260 --> 00:04:00,480 if there's anything lost, stolen, or damaged, 79 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,280 replace that, make note of it, 80 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,230 and then they'll send it up to the technicians 81 00:04:06,230 --> 00:04:07,580 for them to test it. 82 00:04:07,580 --> 00:04:09,720 And so here's where the technicians 83 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:11,500 are actually working on the radio. 84 00:04:11,500 --> 00:04:15,050 Aircraft link kits that he's working on right here. 85 00:04:15,050 --> 00:04:16,810 And generally, this is the unit 86 00:04:16,810 --> 00:04:18,630 that's going to be used to talk 87 00:04:18,630 --> 00:04:20,530 from the helibase to the helicopter. 88 00:04:20,530 --> 00:04:24,340 So what we have here is the command repeater. 89 00:04:24,340 --> 00:04:27,430 This is what, when they're out on the fire, 90 00:04:27,430 --> 00:04:31,730 division supes, whatnot, are talking back to the ICP. 91 00:04:31,730 --> 00:04:33,400 If we need to use the repeater 92 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,600 for extended coverage over the fire, 93 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,460 this is what we're now utilizing. 94 00:04:39,460 --> 00:04:41,140 They're gonna go through, test them, 95 00:04:41,140 --> 00:04:44,140 make sure everything passes the tests. 96 00:04:44,140 --> 00:04:47,090 And then it's going to go out and be voice checked. 97 00:04:47,090 --> 00:04:49,840 Once it's voice checked, then it'll come back in, 98 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:52,470 actually goes back to the rework area. 99 00:04:52,470 --> 00:04:55,450 They're going to now repack the kits, 100 00:04:55,450 --> 00:04:57,390 put a ready for issue sticker on it, 101 00:04:57,390 --> 00:05:00,140 and it's ready to go back out the door. 102 00:05:00,140 --> 00:05:01,780 - We're gonna talk to Gary Stewart, 103 00:05:01,780 --> 00:05:05,020 he's the Communications Duty Officer Coordinator. 104 00:05:05,020 --> 00:05:08,010 He manages all the frequencies nationwide 105 00:05:08,010 --> 00:05:09,900 for any incidents we go on. 106 00:05:09,900 --> 00:05:12,330 But this is, I guess you could call it their command center 107 00:05:12,330 --> 00:05:14,890 for frequency management, and this is Gary. 108 00:05:14,890 --> 00:05:19,680 And he's sitting at a station with the display right here. 109 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:24,140 The one that really stands out to me is this display 110 00:05:24,140 --> 00:05:26,820 that represents each incident that was happening. 111 00:05:26,820 --> 00:05:27,910 What was the date? 112 00:05:27,910 --> 00:05:30,110 - [Gary] August 1st through the 15th. 113 00:05:30,110 --> 00:05:32,900 - August 1st through the 15th of last fire season. 114 00:05:32,900 --> 00:05:34,750 This represents all the different incidents 115 00:05:34,750 --> 00:05:37,060 that needed different frequencies, 116 00:05:37,060 --> 00:05:39,040 and, as Gary will explain, 117 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,800 this is a pretty complex process. 118 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,840 By the time he gets all these frequencies distributed 119 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:48,390 legally and fairly and all that kind of stuff. 120 00:05:48,390 --> 00:05:50,690 - The position that we do as 121 00:05:50,690 --> 00:05:53,810 the Communications Duty Officer Coordinator, 122 00:05:53,810 --> 00:05:57,420 I am the one that finds all of the temporary frequencies 123 00:05:57,420 --> 00:06:01,370 for all wildfires nationwide, or all risk incidents. 124 00:06:01,370 --> 00:06:06,370 It's an extremely large part of wildland fire. 125 00:06:06,870 --> 00:06:10,300 We have to ensure that there is legal, 126 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:15,300 authorized frequency use with zero chance of interference. 127 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,730 DOI, USDO only has 194 frequencies. 128 00:06:19,730 --> 00:06:20,850 We reuse those. 129 00:06:20,850 --> 00:06:24,210 Frequencies are a limited resource, there's only so many. 130 00:06:24,210 --> 00:06:27,430 When we get into a situation like this, we will call in 131 00:06:27,430 --> 00:06:29,780 what we call our communications coordinators. 132 00:06:29,780 --> 00:06:31,310 They're an extension of our office, 133 00:06:31,310 --> 00:06:32,520 and they will go out and sit in 134 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:34,470 the Geographical Area Coordination Center 135 00:06:34,470 --> 00:06:36,240 and work just in that GACC. 136 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:38,880 So I'm feeding them information, 137 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,990 they're contacting the communications unit leaders, 138 00:06:41,990 --> 00:06:44,400 and working closer with the GACC 139 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:46,410 and the communications unit leaders on the fires. 140 00:06:46,410 --> 00:06:49,680 Where I am mainly working with the Washington office, 141 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,750 making sure that we have the equipment available 142 00:06:52,750 --> 00:06:55,550 as the requests come in, so that we can fill them 143 00:06:55,550 --> 00:06:58,003 and get them out of here on a quicker basis. 144 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:00,830 - Here at the fire center, 145 00:07:00,830 --> 00:07:02,680 we have to strive for reliability, 146 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:04,190 because what we're putting up 147 00:07:04,190 --> 00:07:06,790 is a portable communication system. 148 00:07:06,790 --> 00:07:08,640 It's not permanent infrastructure, 149 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:12,540 so we can't put in a lot of those bells and whistles 150 00:07:12,540 --> 00:07:13,810 that may be available with 151 00:07:13,810 --> 00:07:16,000 a permanent infrastructure type system. 152 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,740 If we had a digital radio system in place, 153 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:22,144 which we will at some point in time. 154 00:07:22,144 --> 00:07:25,980 Once we get to digital, we would be able to, 155 00:07:25,980 --> 00:07:29,290 for example, cut down on some of our radio traffic 156 00:07:29,290 --> 00:07:33,710 by being able to have a pre-scripted message 157 00:07:33,710 --> 00:07:38,330 in your phone where, send a burst transmission to supply, 158 00:07:38,330 --> 00:07:39,360 and they've got the order. 159 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,260 I now don't have to send that message in, 160 00:07:42,260 --> 00:07:45,500 with breaks and everything else, tying up the radio system. 161 00:07:45,500 --> 00:07:46,520 You know, one of the big issues 162 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:48,110 with cell phones and mobile devices, 163 00:07:48,110 --> 00:07:51,490 they work great in an urban area. 164 00:07:51,490 --> 00:07:54,270 They work great where you've got cell phone coverage. 165 00:07:54,270 --> 00:07:56,340 Even when we get out on incidents, 166 00:07:56,340 --> 00:07:58,870 people want us to bring in COWs and COLTs, 167 00:07:58,870 --> 00:08:00,970 cells on wheels, cells on light trucks, 168 00:08:00,970 --> 00:08:02,840 to give them more coverage, 169 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:06,800 but for the person who's actually out on the fire line, 170 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,600 the coverage is, at this point in time, not available. 171 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,500 Now, maybe if it's something that's provided by satellite, 172 00:08:13,500 --> 00:08:15,650 or something like that, yes. 173 00:08:15,650 --> 00:08:17,060 We would then be able to give 174 00:08:17,060 --> 00:08:19,120 everybody all the apps they want. 175 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,900 We would also be able to do tracking and things like this. 176 00:08:22,900 --> 00:08:27,300 The whole idea of unmanned aerial vehicles, 177 00:08:27,300 --> 00:08:29,610 and what are those going to do 178 00:08:29,610 --> 00:08:34,020 for us in communications and a lot of other things. 179 00:08:34,020 --> 00:08:37,510 We have actually utilized civil air patrol planes 180 00:08:37,510 --> 00:08:40,450 to fly over a fire with a repeater in them 181 00:08:40,450 --> 00:08:43,640 and provide the communications for a fire. 182 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,360 If at some point in time, we would have a UAV 183 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,070 that was able to carry a repeater for a payload, 184 00:08:51,070 --> 00:08:54,720 that can sit up there and loiter for a heck of a lot longer 185 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:56,860 than a civil air patrol plane can. 186 00:08:56,860 --> 00:08:58,780 Then it's just a matter of 187 00:08:58,780 --> 00:09:00,920 how long the battery's gonna last. 188 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,380 Maybe we'll throw solar technology onto that UAV 189 00:09:04,380 --> 00:09:07,253 to keep those batteries charged indefinitely. 190 00:09:08,510 --> 00:09:10,910 - [Scott] So I'm guessing you're probably recommending 191 00:09:10,910 --> 00:09:14,730 that everybody go through the process 192 00:09:14,730 --> 00:09:17,670 of programming, accessing channels, setting up priorities, 193 00:09:17,670 --> 00:09:20,160 all that kind of stuff before fire season, right? 194 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:22,850 - Yeah, if you're coming to fire season 195 00:09:22,850 --> 00:09:26,860 and you haven't, say, played with your radio recently, 196 00:09:26,860 --> 00:09:29,610 it's a good idea to just get refreshed. 197 00:09:29,610 --> 00:09:34,610 Hey, remember, know your radio before you go out there. 198 00:09:35,060 --> 00:09:37,730 Trying to learn a radio on an incident 199 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:39,887 just screams "watch out." 200 00:09:39,887 --> 00:09:42,180 = You look at all these fatality fires, 201 00:09:42,180 --> 00:09:43,350 or fires where things went bad, 202 00:09:43,350 --> 00:09:45,850 and there's always an issue with communication. 203 00:09:45,850 --> 00:09:48,010 Something has been balled up with communication. 204 00:09:48,010 --> 00:09:51,480 - Yes, if you don't have communications established, 205 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:56,353 you can't go out there and safely try to attack this fire. 206 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:58,313 Bottom line. 207 00:09:58,313 --> 00:09:59,970 - My impression is, when we have problems 208 00:09:59,970 --> 00:10:03,330 with communication, it's not necessarily the radio. 209 00:10:03,330 --> 00:10:06,320 It's how we manage the frequencies 210 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:08,600 on the radios and all that kind of stuff. 211 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,660 - Well, and sometimes, it may be a communications issue, 212 00:10:12,660 --> 00:10:14,310 but the communications issue is 213 00:10:14,310 --> 00:10:15,740 that people didn't sit down and talk 214 00:10:15,740 --> 00:10:17,770 about exactly what they're going to do. 215 00:10:17,770 --> 00:10:20,290 How are we going to accomplish this? 216 00:10:20,290 --> 00:10:21,570 - [Scott] Radio systems are intended 217 00:10:21,570 --> 00:10:23,840 to be reliable and predictable, 218 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,200 but when the conditions are constantly changing, 219 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:27,940 there will be surprises. 220 00:10:27,940 --> 00:10:30,430 When they happen, what's your default? 221 00:10:30,430 --> 00:10:31,640 Do you have a fallback? 222 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,490 A plan of action that everyone on your crew knows? 223 00:10:34,490 --> 00:10:37,620 Take a close look at radio operations on your crew. 224 00:10:37,620 --> 00:10:39,520 Consider standard operating procedures 225 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,407 that can help sort things out when it gets confusing. 226 00:10:42,407 --> 00:10:45,824 (bluegrass guitar music) 227 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,720 (pencil scribbling)