Good going Keith! An experienced operator would have closed the loop for you with a service message informing you of the outcome.
I've relayed such traffic and the first thing the fire service wants to know is where the person who reported it is located. They want to confirm that he/she is not in the danger zone and the status of any others in the area. (Even if not in the fire danger zone, many people don't realized a fire drives all the wildlife away from it. I've heard of people watching a fire from a 'safe' distance when suddenly bear, cougar and lots of other animals not particularly friendly to humans come charging right at them.) The RACES manuals say how to handle emergency traffic in the Amateur Service. Basically, you reply adding SVC to the message number when closing the loop with the originator. It presumes a *written* message. Special forms aren't needed. It's strongly recommended Hams know how to properly format messages on a plain piece of paper. Even if the originating station in the middle of the emergency doesn't take the time to write one, the relaying station should to make a written, time-stamped record of the exact contents of the exchange in a message format. Most commercial licenses in the USA (radiotelegraph, radiotelephone, GMDSS, etc.) require the applicant to demonstrate how to behave when involved in emergency communications even though a person might spend a lifetime operating without using it. It sounds to me like the Amateur licenses should require the same. Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- About 15 yrs ago, I traveled up into the mountains in CA with my TenTec Argonaut for a one man FD operation. I arrived a bit before the start of the event and noticed the hillside across the valley from me was burning. I placed a "help needed here" call and finally got a person in the area. I asked him to contact authorities to report a fire and he said "OK". That was it. I have no idea if the fire got reported or anything. It left me feeling very unsatisfied. I suspect, however the fire was already known about. - Keith N1AS - - K3 711 - _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
