| No radio communications with Park Falls, Glidden, Hayward and Washburn field personnel. WICC can talk via radio with East Zone resources (Nicolet side) but cannot talk with West Zone field resources (Chequamegon side). Internet is down for the above four West Zone districts (Which may be the cause of these problems). Our radio system runs through the internet. The Ino, Clam Lake, West Fork and Elk Creek West Zone repeaters cannot be tripped (No tail) resulting in no communication with field personnel.. West Zone field units can talk directly with other West Zone field units. Cannot talk district to district via base stations and districts cannot talk with WICC/Dispatch and vice verse. Field units cannot talk directly with the ranger stations or WICC. We have field units doing rx prep work which may include chain saw/equipment use. Right now field units are communication with WICC and ranger stations via cell phone but cell phone coverage is unreliable at times. Field units have been instructed by their Zone FMO to stand down any assignment they feel is risky or dangerous without reliable communications. Fire Danger currently is Low with no IA activity but we are in our fall fire season. WICC, along with various ranger stations, have placed a ticket with the Customer help desk. Districts placed their ticket to the help desk on 10/19 while WICC placed their ticket on 10/20. WICC does have functioning internet service which allows us to communicate via the radio to the East Zone. Problems seem to be associated only with the West Zone. We have had this problem numerous times this year with one episode lasting a month and required WICC to activate their COOP plan and relocate. Frontier and AT&T services tend to lame each other for our internet problems and nothing seems to get resolved in a timely manner. These combinication issues are a huge safety concern as we have personnel out in the filed and they are not able to communicate with their ranger station or WICC/Dispatch in case of a emergency |
