SAFENET


SAFENET

Wildland Fire Safety & Health Reporting Network

SAFENET Event Information
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SAFENET ID:
20191021-0001
Event Start Date:
10/20/2019 0800
Event Stop Date:
 
Incident Name:
Yellow Well RX
Fire Number:
 
State:
New Mexico
Jurisdiction:
BIA
Local Unit:
Mescalero Agency
Incident Type:
Prescribed/Fuels Treatment
Incident Activity:
Line
Stage of Incident:
Other
Position Title:
Fuels Specialist 
Task:
Logistics 
Management Level:
N/A
Resources Involved:
Equipment 
Contributing Factors
Contributing Factors:
Communications, Equipment
Human Factors:
 
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.
During the Yellow Well prescribed fire the nearest radio repeater (Pajarita repeater) went out and the RX team had no radio communication with Alamogordo Dispatch. They attempted to use a different repeater (Cienegita repeater) further away and were able to maintain communication with Dispatch.
As the RX project moved into the second day (10/21/19) of implementation both Cienegita and Pajarita repeaters were not functional. Several attempts were made to use the Wofford repeater on adjacent Forest Service lands but communications were broken and scratchy.
Immediate Action Taken
Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.
Cell phones were used to keep in contact with Dispatch although this isn't the ideal situation as there is limited and isolated areas within the Reservation where cellular service is available. While it may be a good work-around for routine communication, in the event of an emergency the timely and accurate relay of information would be compromised.


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