I would be interested in hearing the opinion of the local crews, if he actually was helpful.
Then again, that news could have the opposite of a chilling effect and cause people trying to be helpful to interfere in future situations.
Then again, that news could have the opposite of a chilling effect and cause people trying to be helpful to interfere in future situations.
Absolutely not.
He identified himself as "comm tech" in his transmission. At that point the person managing traffic logs in the Communications Unit checks their sheet provided by the Operations Section and sees no "comm tech" assigned to the incident. This gets reported up to the Logistics Section Officer and then escalated to the Incident Commander.
Every asset in the field is checked out, logged, and checked back in for safety reasons. You now have to divert resources to a search and rescue mission for your missing "comm tech" and the entire command post is going back rechecking EVERYTHING.
Edit: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_nims_d... if you want to torture yourself with the details of how these types of things are handled
You would absolutely not want to learn the opinions of the fire crews about if he was helpful or not?
They thought he was so helpful they told him to stop.
Nothing about this clown show was helpful, because you have now created an incident within an incident that diverts the most critical assets (command and control) from what they should be doing to direct the attack on the fire.
I get that he was probably a nuisance, I just think it is absurd that everyone here is speaking as if they have perfect certainty.
I guess the moral is never talk to cops, even if it would save lives.
Or hell even just saying "break break, I am a civilian with life saving information" and waiting would have been acceptable in an emergency. The comms manager would have directed him to change to a backup frequency and taken the information. Instead he tried to "fit in" and play cool guy.
As a holder of multiple FCC licenses, he is obligated by law to know this stuff, which is why I am being overly hard on him.
If it can wait 2 minutes, then use the proper channels. This guy could have waited 2 minutes, if he had any useful information at all.
This isn't "don't talk to cops", this is more like "don't jump into a moving cop car to tell them something".
During his transmissions he was blocking any other transmission on that frequency, maybe an important message couldn’t be sent due to his „help“. Those frequencies are for emergency personnel only and it can‘t be used as a public tip line.
Imagine there would be more of his kind on those frequencies, all of them „helping“. Each one thinking that their help is essential, but none of them actually being in emergency response teams, just sitting in their lawn chairs giving helpful advise.
He ignored them and deserves this fine.
> on July 17th and 18th, firefighter personnel working on the “Johnson” fire [...] began receiving unauthorized radio transmissions from an individual identifying as “comm tech.” This individual interrupted fire suppression activities and began advising the firefighters and aircraft personnel of hazards at a radio repeater site located at Elk Butte. [...] This individual, subsequently identified as Frawley, admitted to transmitting on government frequencies and doing so as a “comm tech.” The fire operations section chief instructed Frawley to cease operations on the frequency and returned to his post.
so it doesn't sound like they were very happy with his "help".
I think the big part was that it was on the same frequency that the ground crews and fire fighting aircraft were using to coordinate with each other.
One would hope $34,000 is a powerful deterrence.
34k is a powerful enough deterrent that it could cost a life. What if a neighbor runs over and says someone is seriously injured a half mile down the road and the phone+cell towers are out. Do you risk the $34k and transmit? What if it's a stranger instead of a neighbor?
This dude transmitted eight fucking times and someone had to drive there to stop him.
Which is why he got fined so heavily. If it was a real life and death emergency, that isn’t what happens.
Jumping in on a non-open frequency that is used for firefighting coordination, with a callsign that is specifically chosen to sound as "part of the team", it just a stupid stunt that deserves to be prosecuted.
If you're really curious, go and do the research then - if it's not public record, you can file a Freedom of Information request.
But why do you care so much?
In your hypothetical scenario, you can transmit just fine - just use the proper emergency / SOS channels, not the ones reserved for e.g. the fire department, you're more likely to get help then. I don't see why so many people seem to struggle with this basic concept.