Elk Creek Fire demonstrating high level of competence

deltamrey wrote: Three people died

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get it yet ???

And you need more specifics than just screaming "Heads should roll" over and over and over. We heard you the first time, but now you're not adding anything other than your emotional outbursts which detract from actually trying to understand the issues and failures.

Get it yet?

Also, thanks to the firefighters and their leadership for giving their all to protecting us. This is not about a witch hunt, this is about polishing procedures and making sure information flows correctly at all times.

Also, thanks to the firefighters and their leadership for giving their all to protecting us. This is not about a witch hunt, this is about polishing procedures and making sure information flows correctly at all times.

Well said!

Some things went terribly wrong in this fire and we just need to find out what they are and how to fix them.

That is the reason for After Action Reviews, and the more information, from various perspectives, that is available during the AAR, the greater the possibility of identifying the most significant things that went wrong, and coming up with ways to improve.

I hope they come to the realization that digital radios just don't work in the mountains. So much money spent on it.

The Parkco Sheriff's dept has to carry and charge multiple types of radios to communicate.

Agree. AFAIK only LE, Foothills Fire and Rescue, and Genesee Fire and Rescue use the 800 digital systems in our area. I don't know what CSFS uses.

Sadly, the search for a one size fits all solution to the interoperability problem has created more problems for fire fighters, especially in mountainous areas.

I hope they come to the realization that digital radios just don't work in the mountains. So much money spent on it.

A boatload of money has been spent moving to the P25 DTRS digital system. The sad part of this is- it is widly known that 800Mhz does not perform well in the mountains. This has been confirmed over and over again, through many years of experience. Why these fire departments keep making the same rookie mistakes is beyond me.

It's not the "digital" part that does not work up here- it's the frequency that they operate on. I noticed that Evergreen Fire has realized this- they will be moving to a lower frequency for their operations- back to the tried and true VHF (150 Mhz) frequency. This new system will use digital radios- but the frequency will be much lower. Evergreen evidently has listened to what the communications experts are saying- and is also probably incorporating their own experience with UHF into their future plans. The "digital" part - with it's state-of-the-art error correcting technology- may actually help in the mountains.

For those who don't know much about how frequencies behave- the higher frequencies use a much shorter wavelength- those shorter wavelengths tend to "bounce" alot- in an area with hills everywhere - this becomes an issue, whereas over flat land like in the city- this is much less of an issue. This is why the 800Mhz P25 system works better in Aurora and Denver- not so well in Evergreen and Conifer. Lower frequencies have more of a "bending" behavior- and they work much better in variable terrain.

All of those systems can be linked together- in fact I believe they already have the capability to link together. The higher 800Mhz P25 system can be linked to the lower VHF digital system that Evergreen has planned- this would solve lots of problems because each department can use the system that works the best in their area while maintaining the capacity to cross communicate.

I also noticed major problems with the communications system during this fire. With all the capability that exists right now- there should be no excuse for it.

Just to clarify, LE were the only ones on 800 mHz during the fire, everyone else is using VHF radios (including CSFS). Evergreen is indeed moving to VHF, but not digital. The radios may be capable of digital transmission, but almost nobody uses that feature in the VHF world (yet).

Becky wrote:

Also, thanks to the firefighters and their leadership for giving their all to protecting us. This is not about a witch hunt, this is about polishing procedures and making sure information flows correctly at all times.

Well said!

Some things went terribly wrong in this fire and we just need to find out what they are and how to fix them.

Agreed.

Some of the issues, (and I don't just mean for any one district or jurisdiction) go back quite a while. Obviously I believe a fresh look is in order.
I am in no way disparaging the firefighters or with new chief both of whom I believe did yeoman’s work.

Does anyone have any background on the experience of the new Elk Creek Chief.
just curious since he is new to the job.

Interesting editorial from the Denver post....

Who was in charge of leading firefighting efforts when a Colorado State Forest Service controlled burn blew up into a raging wildfire in the Jeffco foothills last week?

It would seem a simple enough question.

But two high-ranking state forestry officials on Wednesday couldn't tell us whether it was their agency. They hadn't reviewed the records. They didn't know the timeline.

Color us skeptical.

http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci ... -confusion