New Mexico Fires: Is Radio Providing Critical Information?

[Kelly A]

Three radio stations affected by the New Mexico fires:

FCC: Wildfires Silence Three New Mexico Stations.

A pair of wildfires near Ruidoso, NM continued to burn Friday, spreading across thousands of acres in southern New Mexico. The Federal Communications Commission says three radio stations in the

www.insideradio.com

Not KUBY "The Bear Country"! Oh, the injustice.
So much for the example of AM radio coming to the rescue.

 

[kwthom]

For those old enough...

The current fires are in the Lincoln National Forest, home of the first living symbol Smokey the Bear, who resided at the National Zoo in D.C. for 26 years, beginning in 1950.

Smokey Bear - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[boiseengineer]

So far no broadcaster is reporting an outage.
Some cell sites are out of service.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-403353A1.pdf

 

[TheBigA]

So far no broadcaster is reporting an outage.
Some cell sites are out of service.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-403353A1.pdf

That's from Thursday. This is the updated info:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-403394A1.pdf

Broadcast ServicesAs of 6:00 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, June 20, 2024, the following broadcast stations were impacted.AM radio station status: • KBUY and KWES are off the air.FM radio station status:• KWES-FM and translators K234AQ and K290AYare off the air.

 

[TheBigA]

So much for the example of AM radio coming to the rescue.

Their area was evacuated, and they had to shut down and leave.

Station manager Juanita Jones told Inside Radio on Friday that the stations were forced to go dark when the area was evacuated. “We are not allowed back in to Ruidoso yet so we do not have access to the station,” she said in an email. Ruidoso’s mayor has said it might be as long as a week before employees will be allowed back into the area to get the three radio stations back on the air.

Radio stations aren't exempt when emergency officials evacuate an area.

 

[crainbebo]

A contemporary example would be the New Orleans TV staff fleeing for Houston and Baton Rouge during Hurricane Katrina. On this smaller scale, the same is happening. The Roswell FMs are the temporary local radio stations for most of the residents of Ruidoso.

 

[Kelly A]

Radio stations aren't exempt when emergency officials evacuate an area.

True, but just another example of how radio stations aren't always in a position to save the day with news and information 24/7.
Even when cell/PCS sites are down.

 

[TheBigA]

True, but just another example of how radio stations aren't always in a position to save the day with news and information 24/7.
Even when cell/PCS sites are down.

The only thing radio stations are required to do is make their signals available to local authorities. Not do news 24/7.

 

[Kelly A]

The only thing radio stations are required to do is make their signals available to local authorities. Not do news 24/7.

You don't say!

 

[kwthom]

Evacuation story:

Escape from killer New Mexico wildfire was 'absolute sheer terror,’ says woman who fled the flames

With little warning, thousands of people were forced to flee their homes as a pair of wildfires ballooned in a single afternoon.

apnews.com

"Belinda Bukovitz was jolted into action by the sound of police outside her home shouting through a loudspeaker: “Go now, go now, go now!” Realizing this was not like other wildfires that had threatened her mountain village before, she, her husband, son and two cats bundled into three separate cars and fled."

Door-to-door evacuation. I'm sure the radio stations were also broadcasting the same information, but who was there to hear it?


Permanent residents of certain neighborhoods in and around the Ruidoso area are being allowed to return on Monday.

Re-Entry Information for Residents Following South Fork and Salt Fires — Ruidoso-NM.gov | Municipal Website of the Village of Ruidoso, NM

Ruidoso begins re-entry for local, full-time residents on Monday at 8:00 AM. Second homeowners and tourists should wait. Be prepared for possible outages of gas, electricity, and water, and bring a week's worth of groceries and water. Air quality may be poor. LCMC aims to resume full services on Mon

www.ruidoso-nm.gov

Earlier in the thread, there was mention about emergency notifications...in this case, the lack of them, it would seem. Maybe there will be some lessons learned for the next small-scale event to be made aware of.

 

[OriginalSample]

It's highly opinionated from the opposition perspective. It's all PNP vs PPD. Una sola cruz bajo la palma and all that stuff.

Just say you didn’t read it. Moving on.

 

[Kelly A]

Evacuation story:

"Belinda Bukovitz was jolted into action by the sound of police outside her home shouting through a loudspeaker: “Go now, go now, go now!” Realizing this was not like other wildfires that had threatened her mountain village before, she, her husband, son and two cats bundled into three separate cars and fled."

Great example of real-world evacuation notifications, not assuming that people are sitting glued in front of their battery-powered portable radio tuned to some AM station waiting for instructions. And even then, like the fires in Lahaina, HI, or Paradise, CA., sometimes police and fire cannot drive down your street, or knock on your door. That's why emergency services rely more on notifications via cell phones because the alert will wake someone up. Depending on how fast the fire travels and the exit paths from an area, many times recently the emergency services don't have a plan to broadcast. Unfortunately at that point, it's everyone for themselves.

Door-to-door evacuation. I'm sure the radio stations were also broadcasting the same information, but who was there to hear it?

And that's the reality of the situation. As some of us have mentioned, the vast majority of the modern public are not radio nerds. They don't even own a portable radio, nor have for years. Emergency services fumbling around trying to activate, let alone remember how to activate an EAS alert with urgent information need to take a back seat to evacuate citizens through more direct means. Where EAS works most effectively is after the event peaks and imminent threats to life have diminished. That's when EAS is most effective with information on where to go for assistance.

 

[Voicetrack of Reason]

Great example of real-world evacuation notifications, not assuming that people are sitting glued in front of their battery-powered portable radio tuned to some AM station waiting for instructions. And even then, like the fires in Lahaina, HI, or Paradise, CA., sometimes police and fire cannot drive down your street, or knock on your door. That's why emergency services rely more on notifications via cell phones because the alert will wake someone up. Depending on how fast the fire travels and the exit paths from an area, many times recently the emergency services don't have a plan to broadcast. Unfortunately at that point, it's everyone for themselves.

And that's the reality of the situation. As some of us have mentioned, the vast majority of the modern public are not radio nerds. They don't even own a portable radio, nor have for years. Emergency services fumbling around trying to activate, let alone remember how to activate an EAS alert with urgent information need to take a back seat to evacuate citizens through more direct means. Where EAS works most effectively is after the event peaks and imminent threats to life have diminished. That's when EAS is most effective with information on where to go for assistance.

I can only assume that the transmitter sites were in the evacuation zone as well? I've had to broadcast from the transmitter site in an emergency. It isn't fun, but it can be done.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I can't link to it but a newspaper in this area recently had instructions on what to do in order to be ready for an emergency. I don't think an AM radio was included but it should have been.

 

[louis_p]

Most sites recommend that a radio should be packed in an evacuation kit (not specifically AM radio).

From https://www.radiodiscussions.com/th...-providing-critical-information.772052/page-4

Have An Evacuation Kit Prepared With:​

• First-aid kit;
• Your usual medication;
• Water and non-perishable food;
• Personal hygiene products;
• A change of clothes;
• Radio, flashlight and whistle;
• Money;
• Family / friends contact list

 

[kwthom]

I can only assume that the transmitter sites were in the evacuation zone as well? I've had to broadcast from the transmitter site in an emergency. It isn't fun, but it can be done.

I believe I saw the studio was within evacuation area.

Probably hit the "EMERGENCY STOP" 🔴button, locked the facility and evacuated along with everyone else.

 

[Kelly A]

Most sites recommend that a radio should be packed in an evacuation kit (not specifically AM radio).

From https://www.radiodiscussions.com/th...-providing-critical-information.772052/page-4

Ironically Consumer Reports Magazine this past month had an article on that same topic; what to pack for emergencies. No mention of a portable radio, but they did include a separate way of charging your smartphone.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I can only assume that the transmitter sites were in the evacuation zone as well?

This was answered in post #59: https://www.radiodiscussions.com/th...ding-critical-information.772052/post-6732130

 

[kwthom]

Saw a local TV news story on YouTube about the partial reopening. There's a couple of areas that were still off-limits, as there continued to be investigation on the initiation point on each of the two fires.

 

[ajaynejr]

Can cell towers broadcast? That is, transmit emergency or other information to an unlimited number of phones within a given radius in miles without an individual phone call in progress with each phone in that radius?

"" so much for AM radio coming to the rescue ""

Radio stations are additional irons in the fire for disseminating information. I suppose that a radio station of decent power outside would be able to penetrate a larger area that has lost all of its media compared with the system of cell towers. Still better would be first responders to reactivate radio stations whose operators had shut down and evacuated, and to obtain and rebroadcast further into affected areas emergency information.