Now I know you have been waiting on tenterhooks wanting to know what a Comm. trailer is and what the heck we are doing with it.
When there is a big forest or wild-land fire there are helicopters involved. Helicopters require a heli-base, a place where they come and go from and fuel up, pick up supplies or people. Helibase can be out in the middle of a field somewhere or in the middle of the forest, and sometimes they use a local municipal airport if the location is convenient. Helicopters require communication between them and base camp and most all operations concerning the helicopters are conducted at the helibase.
Which is where the Communications trailer comes in; it is like a mini-tower where all the landings and take-offs are coordinated from. Without the trailer it would be a card table and a couple of hand held radios under a tree or canopy out in the middle of a field.
These trailers have windows for viewing of the comings and goings of the aircraft like a tower and all the radios needed. Besides all the radios there are phones, all the office accoutrements, fax/copier, microwave, coffeemaker, and satellite for television and internet connections. It has air conditioning and all is powered by a 7000 watt generator. This particular company has two trailers and they get far more requests than they can fulfill, because they are frequently already committed to an “incident”. The trailers are pulled by a pickup truck outfitted with a ultra comfy camper outfitted with all the comforts of home so that the person with the trailer has a place to sleep and eat and retire to if they don’t want to avail themselves of the facilities at “Fire Camp”.
Larry is the relief for the two main guys and he is the radio tech for the company. He
designed all the aspects of the radio/antenna layout; installed all the radios, antennas etc. in one trailer and then the owner and his son did the installation on the second trailer.
The trailers up keep and functions are the responsibility of the person assigned to it. He has to be there before the personnel to get everything up and running, checks on it
during the day, trouble shoots if there are problems and then after the operations shut down for the night, fills the generator, cleans everything from floors on up and gets thinks ship-shape for the next day.
That’s the nutshell description of a Com-trailer and why we are here in Weaverville, CA.
Operations are winding down on this fire, but the trailer will remain as long as there are helicopters flying missions.
When there is a big forest or wild-land fire there are helicopters involved. Helicopters require a heli-base, a place where they come and go from and fuel up, pick up supplies or people. Helibase can be out in the middle of a field somewhere or in the middle of the forest, and sometimes they use a local municipal airport if the location is convenient. Helicopters require communication between them and base camp and most all operations concerning the helicopters are conducted at the helibase.
Which is where the Communications trailer comes in; it is like a mini-tower where all the landings and take-offs are coordinated from. Without the trailer it would be a card table and a couple of hand held radios under a tree or canopy out in the middle of a field.These trailers have windows for viewing of the comings and goings of the aircraft like a tower and all the radios needed. Besides all the radios there are phones, all the office accoutrements, fax/copier, microwave, coffeemaker, and satellite for television and internet connections. It has air conditioning and all is powered by a 7000 watt generator. This particular company has two trailers and they get far more requests than they can fulfill, because they are frequently already committed to an “incident”. The trailers are pulled by a pickup truck outfitted with a ultra comfy camper outfitted with all the comforts of home so that the person with the trailer has a place to sleep and eat and retire to if they don’t want to avail themselves of the facilities at “Fire Camp”.
Larry is the relief for the two main guys and he is the radio tech for the company. He
designed all the aspects of the radio/antenna layout; installed all the radios, antennas etc. in one trailer and then the owner and his son did the installation on the second trailer.The trailers up keep and functions are the responsibility of the person assigned to it. He has to be there before the personnel to get everything up and running, checks on it
during the day, trouble shoots if there are problems and then after the operations shut down for the night, fills the generator, cleans everything from floors on up and gets thinks ship-shape for the next day.That’s the nutshell description of a Com-trailer and why we are here in Weaverville, CA.
Operations are winding down on this fire, but the trailer will remain as long as there are helicopters flying missions.
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