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ARES After-Action Report:
Support of Hi Meadows Fire Incident

by Ron Poinsett (W3DKH), Mission Coordinator,
District 24, Douglas & Elbert Counties, 12-Jun-2000
  1. Date of activity
    • June 12, 2000

  2. Description of activity
    • District 24 was asked to support D-23 in communications support to the High Meadows wildland fire incident. Mutual aid was provided by five district 24 members Monday night through Tuesday night. This included Net Control and Incident Command support as well as other non-fire-line communications assignments.
    • As Douglas County became more involved in support and monitoring of their own wildfire threats, DCSO requested establishment of a primary communications link between the RACES station in DCSO and the Deckers Resort Evacuation Point being manned by deputies. This link was maintained from Monday evening continuously through Tuesday at 10PM and then from 7AM to 10 PM on Wednesday and Thursday. As the fire danger decreased, ARES alertness was dropped to a standby status and finally was terminated on Saturday afternoon.
    • The Deckers location is deep in the Rampart Range and denies DCSO use of the primary communications and paging systems. ARES members evaluated several types of antennas as well as different repeaters and other bands in order to maintain an instant link between the deputies and their dispatch center.

  3. Duration of activity
    • Monday 3:00 PM thru Saturday 3:00 PM (5.0 days)

  4. Serving amateur radio groups participating
    • Colorado ARES District 24 (Douglas & Elbert Counties)
    • Colorado ARES District 22 (Arapahoe County)

  5. Served agencies participating
    • Douglas County Sheriff’s Office emergency management
    • ARES District 23 (Jefferson County)

  6. Describe served agency participation
    • ARES provided primary voice communications link between DCSO dispatch and the Deckers Resort Evacuation post manned by DCSO.

  7. Number of amateurs participating
    • 24

  8. List of amateurs participating
    • Dave Young, KC6WZP
    • Larry Noble, N0NDM
    • Ann Trudeau, KA0ZFI
    • Woody Linwood, W0UI
    • Larry Matney, N7ZFN
    • Perry Lundquist, W6AUN
    • Bob Regan, WB4ETT
    • Randolph Ellington, WB9NJB
    • Ted Tsucalas, W0RMJ
    • John Schneider,AB0NF
    • John Duffield,K0KHZ
    • Mark Hayworth, KC0GER
    • James Carpenter, WD5BKO
    • Greg Cook, KB0ODM
    • Nancy Malm, KB6IGN
    • Dick Malm, KF6FK
    • Paul Little, KC0IAE
    • Kathy Smith, KB0SJZ
    • Ralph Smith, KB0OYZ
    • Walt Loftstrom, KB0YZL
    • Benji Campbell, W0CBH
    • Mike Manes, W5VSI
    • Dan Krohn, KC0CEN
    • JJ Hyland, N0QPP

  9. Person-hours of amateur service
    • 388 hours

  10. Describe the Goals of the Activity
    • To maintain communications from DCSO Dispatch to Deckers Communications, and to assist ARES District 23 by providing non-red-card communicators.

  11. Did the Event Fulfill the Goals?
    • Yes. Although no formal traffic was passed to/from Deckers, several informal exchanges were sent. D-24 also took the opportunity to test different antenna sites and types as well as other bands and repeaters. Three operators were sent to the incident site and were then replaced by two other operators during the first thirty-one hours of District 23’s activities.

  12. What Went Well?
    • Initial deployment to Deckers and staffing of dispatch.
    • Our support to district 23 fire communications both at key stations and at the Red Cross shelter.
    • Significant number of members available considering a mid-day/mid-week callout.
    • All members arrived prepared to operate as long as required. Equipment was adequate and serviceable.
    • We were able to take a potential ARES member along on one of the assignments to assist the ARES member.
    • Adaptation to a back-up repeater for primary operations due to priority fire communications on our normal repeater.
    • Coordination with neighboring district 22 to staff the Deckers location for two shifts, and coordination to use one of their repeater assets.

  13. Areas needing improvement
    • Planning tools for scheduling multi-shift, multi-day activations.
    • Review of resource staffing techniques. Develop a stronger reserve list and provide that data to all AECs.
    • RACES members need to be issued a written protocol for entering and exiting the RACES station at DCSO dispatch. This protocol should reflect the exact instructions followed by DCSO entry control personnel.

  14. Lessons learned
    • The CRA repeaters provide excellent coverage into difficult areas of both Douglas and Jefferson Counties. When future wildfire incidents arise in Jefferson County it is more important for the Conifer Mountain CRA repeater to carry critical fireline support communications as was the case in High Meadows, therefore District 24 must be prepared to use alternate assets when their role is supporting.
    • District 24 is not highly practiced in staffing extended operations over many days.

  15. Additional training needed
    • A staff exercise to improve techniques for staffing extended incidents.

  16. General comments
    • A good relationship was established with Harry and Rose Glass, managers at the Deckers Resort. There is every likelihood that District 24 can install a permanent antenna at that location to support future deployments. Specific action will be required to carry this project forward.
    • A special thank you to each of the folks who went up the mountain to help out District 23. Also a special thank you to District 22 and the members who stepped forward to help us out when our staffing got too thin to sustain the Deckers site. Finally, a strong vote of appreciation to the CRA and especially its technical committee for their fine repeaters which, once again, have proven invaluable to ARES and emergency communications in general