Catalina Deployment May '07
by Chuck Lobb, KN6H
The phone rang about midnight. Bill T-01 KB6FB sleepily answered. “We need three teams of three DCS hams each to deploy to Catalina”, the caller stated. “The first team on the 0630 boat, the second on the 1230 boat, the third at 1830.” The object was to provide radio communication between County Fire and Sheriff Units at Avalon. Masks were recommended due to the pall of smoke.
Bill went to work. For the 0630 team he rounded up Rich T-03 KG6JKJ who joined RDT’s (Rapid Deployment Team members) mostly from the Carson sheriff station. Bill then called Chuck T-43 KN6H asking him to round up teams for the 1230 and 1830 boats. Chuck and Bill volunteered themselves for the 1230 boat, and Stu T-61 K9STU, Mike T-109 KF6UCN and Dee T-115 KE6ZBV were pledged for the 1830 boat.
Rich got on the 0630 ferry at San Pedro in good shape with equipment of his own and from the Carson RDT. Bill and Chuck didn’t fare quite so well. While driving to the ferry terminal, Station A advised that the 1230 Catalina Express was departing at 1215 from Long Beach, not San Pedro. That resulted in a race across the Vincent Thomas Bridge, the length of Terminal Island and across the Gerald Desmond Bridge, plunging into Long Beach just in the nick of time to catch the Catalina Express.
The boat ride was a bit choppy through the afternoon whitecaps, and as we approached Catalina, dozens of little columns of smoke could be seen littering the hillsides. Small, vertical columns of white that would periodically shoot up, then die down looking much like little Yellowstone Park geysers. A few were spotted on the hillsides above Avalon. No heavy flames, however, for which we were thankful, but a very heavy pall of thick smoke hung low in the air to the north between Avalon and Two Harbors.
Upon landing, we were immediately whisked via golf cart to the Avalon Fire Department where the RDT’s had established two base stations. The first maintained contact with Station A in East Los Angeles via the DCS repeater on Mt. Disappointment. The second base rig was for local handhelds between ourselves at the sheriff command post, the fire command post and the Avalon beach and dockside area. Interestingly, the Station A antenna that worked the best was a mobile mag mount just a few feet off the ground perched atop an upside down grocery cart.
The afternoon passed relatively quietly with Bill T-01 and Rich T-03 at the base station and Chuck T-43 on the Avalon docks reporting as each arriving ferry brought more returning residents. Tourists were not allowed and thus the majority of Avalon shops were closed and locked. The small community was virtually a ghost town, save a single pharmacy and the hotel.
But there was aerial activity aplenty. Literally dozens of helicopters filled their large buckets in the sea in front of the Casino, emptying them mostly in the canyon just north of Avalon. At one point, an enormous hovercraft from Camp Pendleton brought county fire engines and equipment from the mainland. The craft would run right up on the beach south of town, then lower a ramp and the engines drove off directly into town.
The small Avalon Fire Station with just four units was taken over by the county. The engines were pushed out and the space used for shift briefings. It was amazing to watch the Incident Command System in action with Section Chiefs from Operations, Planning, Logistics and Finance conducting the briefing from printed briefing assignments distributed to all in attendance. It was an impressive and well coordinated briefing from these sheets and from a large wall map indicating the fire perimeter outside Avalon.
Food was in abundance and of incredible quality. We later learned it was from a wedding reception that had been canceled when the wedding party was evacuated. Rest assured, the food found good use with dozens of tired firefighters.
As the day wore on and the fire danger steadily reduced, Chuck T-43 and Rich T-03 decided to catch the 1955 boat back to Long Beach. Bill T-01 opted to remain overnight with the incoming shift of Stu T-61, Mike T-109 and Dee T-115. Ahead of them was the final fire containment plus communication support for the Two Harbors area that remained without power, telephones or water. The fire had apparently destroyed the lines and poles between Two Harbors and Avalon.
Would we do it again? You bet! Ham radio communication experience in a large scale event like this was a wonderful exercise of our skills, our equipment, and our ability to plan quickly and stuff a knapsack with clothing, food and water for an extended stay in the field.
Did we learn anything? What do you think?
How about you? Are you ready to go?