The ARRL Letter reports that ARES members in
California were called up to provide communications between evacuation shelters
and the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center during the November "Camp
Fire" which destroyed the town of Paradise and was responsible for dozens
of deaths. During the "Woolsey Fire" in Los Angeles County,
hams working with the Sheriff's Department and Fire Department provided backup
communications and shelter support as well as conducting fire patrols and
bringing food and water to firefighters in the field.
A continent away,
when a crew member on a sailing vessel 300 miles east of Bermuda
suffered chest pains, the captain (a ham) put out a call for help on the
Maritime Mobile Service Net. A net member
in Florida set up a phone patch with the Coast Guard in Norfolk, Virginia,
which coordinated a rendezvous with a Coast Guard cutter, followed by a
helicopter evacuation for medical care on shore. The hams helped provide a
constant link, including relays as needed when propagation changed. According
to the Coast Guard's search-and-rescue coordinator for the incident, the ham
radio assistance "was crucial in helping to communicate with the vessel's
crew."