Due to a planned FAMAuth outage coinciding with a Lumen network update / outage, our dispatch center lost access to WildCAD, IROC, and most pertinently our VHF radio system so we did not have communication with field personnel.
Although we did not have any active fires, it is still a major safety concern with field employees engaged in project work and prescribed fire prep in areas without reliable cell phone coverage if there was a medical emergency, or if there had been a fire that they needed to respond to but there was no way to reach them.
Although not having access to IROC is a nuisance that could have delayed mobilization of resources to fires in other geographic areas, and not having access to WildCAD would have prevented keeping accurate logs, losing radio communications across three National Forests for several hours constitutes a major safety issue. |