SAFENET


SAFENET

Wildland Fire Safety & Health Reporting Network

SAFENET Event Information
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SAFENET ID:
20180816-0001        [Corrective Actions]
Event Start Date:
08/11/2018 1300
Event Stop Date:
 
Incident Name:
Bald Peak Repeater
Fire Number:
 
State:
Colorado
Jurisdiction:
USFS
Local Unit:
Dillon Ranger District/White River NF/Upper Colorado River Fire Management East Zone
Incident Type:
Wildland
Incident Activity:
Readiness/Preparedness
Stage of Incident:
Non-incident
Position Title:
Lead Ia Dispatcher 
Task:
Communication W/ Dispatch 
Management Level:
N/A
Resources Involved:
Type 6 Engine 
Contributing Factors
Contributing Factors:
Communications
Human Factors:
Decision Making, Performance  
Other Factors:
 
Narrative
Describe in detail what happened including the concern or potential issue, the environment (weather, terrain, fire behavior, etc), and the resulting health issue.
8/11 1300 - While out doing fire prevention patrols it was discovered by a local fire suppression resource that the Bald Peak Repeater on the Dillon Ranger District, White River NF, would not transmit out to Grand Junction Interagency Dispatch Center. Discovering party contacted Grand Junction by cell phone and went through a series of radio tests to confirm the repeater could receive from GJC but field personnel could not transmit out. A ticket was started with the FS Customer Help Desk to troubleshoot the issue.

8/12 1545 - WRF Radio Tech contacted the East Zone FMO to relay that sometime last week the Bald Peak Repeater transmit tone guard was changed. The Radio Tech communicated that he had instructed a front desk person at the Dillon Ranger District office to send out an email announcing the change in the tone guard. The email was never sent.
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The above is an issue because this is the second instance of failed communication on the Bald Peak Repeater Tx tone guard change in the last 6 weeks.

The first failure occurred at the beginning of July when the tone guard was changed from the correct Tx tone guard 114.8 to an old tone guard 210.7. As a result a ticket was submitted by GJC for the Bald Peak Repeater for transmit issues. It was later discovered the Tx tone guard was changed by a radio tech and not communicated to the field.

The second failure occurred when the exact same circumstances occurred again, a radio tech changing the tone guard from 210.7 to 114.8 and not communicating the change.

The downstream impacts from the failure to communicate the change in the transmit tone guard to field going personnel is tremendous. If an emerging fire or serious accident occurred in the area of the Bald Peak Repeater and the impacted parties are not in cell service and could not get out on the radio the negative consequences could be catastrophic.
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Post discovery, all radios on the Dillon Ranger District will be recloned with the correct transmit tone guard. Send out forest wide/UCR wide email announcement announcing the tx tone guard change.

Instructed radio tech to ALWAYS communicate radio issues/resolutions to the Grand Junction Interagency Dispatch Center so they can announce the changes to all personnel.
Immediate Action Taken
Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.
Filing this SAFENET and communicating this to all parties on the UCR


Agency Response

20180816-0001-CA001

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