The first test we sent out when the BLM network went down was "BLM MBR radio down BLM/MBR link between NCC & BLM/MBR is down at this time. Field Resources can hear each other but no NCC and vice versa. Radio Tech will take a look in the morning." The BLM Radio network came back online 8/25 @ 21:23. It went back down at 8/26 @ 08:39. This text was sent out to our dispatch zone: "BLM Radios are currently down. We are not showing a link fail on the consoles on the dispatch floor, but we are unable to hear transmissions from the field over the BLM radios." The BLM Radio network came back online 8/26 @ 15:50. During this time our field resources were coming back from IA incidents, & checking fires. We had someone at a base station that was able to talk to the field resources via a base station that thankfully was close enough to be able to communicate via line-of-sight. Our dispatch center was also able to communicate with both the base station operator and field resources via cell phone. Not having radio comms with the field can be a situation that prevents resources from engaging in firefighting operations entirely. No fire suppression, no cutting trees, no engaging whatsoever because it presents a substantial safety risk, as dispatch can't provide any assistance. |