When the LMR technician was enroute to the Shawnee/Athens Repeater site technician ran into an intentionally blocked access road. I brought up the issue to district fire overhead (XXX), he stated it was to keep kids from accessing the fire tower, and that the obstruction will not be cleared. To limit access to areas locked gates are to be used, and are to be labeled to inform the public of access restrictions. This also allow the tech to still access the site for urgent outages. The listed reason for the closure was the risk of walking around the fire tower. This risk is significantly increased by limiting vehicle usage.
Upon heading back to the site the tech noted illegal OHV trails, signs of hiking in, and signs of people continuing to access the site. Additional research shows recent photos of people at the site. This is evidence that the current obstruction is not effective in it's intended purpose. The recommended solution is to increase law enforcement engagement in the area to include mandating ticketing/arrests for violators. This has been shown to be effective on other forests.
The road block has been shown to not stop the illegal access to the site, and is currently only increasing risk to LMR Technicians. This also makes the site inaccessible to techs with disabilities/joint issues.
Lastly the site EAP lists utilizing an ambulance for medical emergencies. An ambulance is currently not able to access the site. There are no local REMs teams, and there is not room to land a medivac helicopter. This makes the site unsafe for all work. |
