conflagration hazard in massachusetts

abbreviations - trs = trunked radio system - FG = fireground / short range

some hot dry windy day there will be a big fire - maybe in a
residential area or a wooded area - the hard part will be trying to
stop the fire - plenty of people will stand around and take pictures -
very few will try to stop the fires

aircraft will not be able to fly - so the hard part will be to
coordinate the people fighting the fire on the ground

there are actually very few common fire mutual aid radio channels in
Massachusetts - there are no dedicated air to ground channels for
structure fires afaik - no county has more than 5 common channels -
the nationwide channels can be over run by local dpw and civil defense
forces - or even by local fire ops

there are still no radio drills conducted on any of the mutual aid
channels - they could do these drills in conjunction with every fire
truck parade

question - how many counties have countywide fireground channels that
actually cover their entire county? - barnstable county has 3 or 4
because they are on the state trs - norfolk county has 2 because they
have built a countywide synchronized simulcast system - franklin
county has 3 or 4 because they are now on the state trs (maybe) - the
vast majority of Massachusetts counties DO NOT have countywide
fireground channels

this gross deficiency will show up big time when some chief tries to
tackle a wildfire that is covering 1 square mile or more - suddenly
the simplex fireground channels will be next to useless - and there
will be no aircraft in the air to relay messages - and no one knows
how to relay messages from a hilltop - and the mobile command posts
will all set up in the gullies and valleys - arriving too late to do
any good - and effectively creating huge radio dead spots

its gonna be a total shit show - nothing has changed since the
lawrence gas explosions

all of the news media will get off on saying "no action was ever taken
on the needed improvements that were documented after the lawrence
incident" - in other words - screw you all

================

action plan - do these things TODAY

1. run radio drills with mobile command posts - ensure that high spots
are preplanned - and that channels are clear - and that commanders
have working radios on the right channels

2. preplan the use of FG channels by every task force and every strike
team - at the best each task force leader and every strike team leader
will be able to talk to the incident commander via 151.145R or via
800T or via cellphone or via a county mutual aid channel - the use of
FG channels will be highly problematic - task forces and strike teams
might find their way into the correct neighborhoods and locations -
but they will have very few useable fireground channels - and there
will be no dedicated mayday channels - and direct coordination with
police and ems via radio will be nonexistant - there is a chance that
some task forces and strike teams can use their home FG channels - but
it seems unlikely

3, teach everyone that the basic communications plan will be - A. use
local channels - B. when the local channels are full, use county
channels - C. when the county channels are full (which is a given as
stated above) then communications have to revert to messengers - or to
prepositioned mobile command posts with temporary bases and repeaters
(but this will be nearly impossible since it is never practiced)

4. immediately begin giving state trs radios to every fire dispatch
center so that all 'dispatcher to dispatcher' comms will flow via the
state trs - this will free up a few more radio channels for mutual aid
comms - such as the metrofire channels and the countywide fire mutual
aid channels (1 in essex county - 3 in plymouth county - 4 in bristol
county - 1 in middlesex county - 2 in worcester county - 1 in hampden
county - etc)

=========================

all of this info is also applicable to any major disaster - nuke
explosion or tsunami or earthquake or multi terror attacks etc