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 - 

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