By Brooke Edwards
Daily Press
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — We may never see them. But in our times of greatest distress, their voices may be the first we hear.
They include homemakers and an oil tanker pilot, a retired principal and a forensic pathologist — and they’re ready for everything from earthquakes to parades, wildfires to picnics.
“We are considered one of the most highly trained and outfitted communication units in Southern California,” boasted Zack Mullennix, an 11-year volunteer who heads up the San Bernardino County Fire Department Emergency Communications team.
Some 200 volunteers put in nearly 10,000 hours with the team last year, to make sure that the lines of communication are always open between residents, public safety officers and medical personnel no matter what situation strikes.
In 1999, flooding all but wiped out the town of Forest Falls, at the base of the San G orgonio Mountains near Highway 38.
“There were no communications in or out of Forest Falls whatsoever until our group set up shop,” said Mark Wells, a railroad engineer by day and another longtime volunteer with the program.
During the Old and Grand Prix fires of 2003, Mullennix recalls standing on a ridge next to a battalion chief as a fireline 15 or 16 miles long, reaching 300 feet across and 60 feet high, swept toward the mountain town of Crestline.
“I remember watching how it consumes everything,” said Mullennix, a media technician specialist whose own family lost their home to a fire in the ‘80s. “But with what we do, we have the opportunity to help get people out. ... That’s a great privilege.”
And when fire ravaged San Diego in 2007, smaller communities on the eastern edge of the county had no phone service after telephone poles burned to the ground. The San Bernardino team drove down, parked their vehicle and popped an easy-up, establishing a satellite outpost to dispatch 911 services for entire communities.
The group was formed in the early 1950s, under the old banner of civil defense to help in times of war or major disaster. But in the mid-'80s, the group started assisting through major fires and earthquakes, and a decade later laws changed so the group could be activated by local agencies, rather than a declaration of disaster by the U.S. president or state governor.
As technolog y has evolved, so have the demands placed upon the team. Though they started with establishing two-way ham or amateur radio service in the field, the team now helps set up telephone, fax or Internet communications, helps keep track of firefighters and equipment with GPS devices and takes video and still photography to document events from fires to funerals.
The team spends about half of its time in training, learning everything from basics of wildland fire safety to hazardous materials training. And while a technical background always helps, Mullennix said the group’s diverse background allows them to adapt and respond to challenging situations very quickly.
One thing they don’t have enough of is volunteers in the High Desert.
Mullennix said here the team’s growth hasn’t kept pace with the population, and they are actively recruiting new members willing to give something back in times of disaster.
Copyright 2009 Daily Press