Effingham County VHF Fire/EMS Dispatch

Location: Savannah

Effingham County is no longer using the old 155.355 MHz repeater for initial dispatch of Fire/EMS calls. They are now using 158.7675 for initial dispatch. Currently I do not know a CTCSS tone for it, but I will pass it when I find out what it is.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

$20 Million in Public Safety Grants Awarded to Georgia

Chatham County Emergency Management Agency Press Release

Savannah, GA – April 9, 2008

Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that $20 million will be released for Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grants for local first responders so to improve emergency communications and coordination during natural and man-made disasters.

The PSIC grant program will assist first responders in acquiring and deploying communication systems that are interoperable among all local response agencies. The grants will also provide training for local first responders in the usage of this improved communication system.

“These awards will assist our state’s first responders during critical moments when communications are essential to protecting the citizens of Georgia,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “The PSIC grant will increase our ability to communicate effectively and save lives across the state.”

Georgia Emergency Management Agency requested the PSIC grant in December of 2007 and grants have been designated to Chatham County Information and Communications Services for distribution to Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn and Liberty counties and the city of Savannah to enhance the Southeast Georgia Regional Radio Network (SEGARRN); to the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office and Coastal Network jurisdictions to expand SEGARNN; to Troup County for Troup and Harris counties and Columbus Consolidated Government to improve the West-Central Georgia Regional Radio System (WCGRRS); to Carroll County for upgrades to the Western Area Regional Radio System (WARRS); and to the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office for Catoosa, Walker and Dade counties to improve the Northwest Georgia Interoperable Communications Network (NWGIC).

“It is critical for first responders from different jurisdictions and agencies to have the proper tools and equipment available when they respond to an incident,” said Georgia Emergency Management Agency – Homeland Security Director Charley English. “The PSIC grant approval enhances our state’s communications capabilities.”

Effingham County ARES Meeting

Effingham County ARES (ECARES) will met at 1800 hrs on Tuesday, 6 November 2007 at Effingham EMS Station 2 near the intersection of GA Highway 17 and Blue Jay Rd.

There will be food served before the meeting. Topics to be covered during the meeting are the formation of an official club and NTS message training.


Todd Hargrave, KD6RYQ, the Effingham County EC also reports that the 146.745 (PL 97.4) repeater in Effingham County is back on the air and will be used for Skywarn/ARES Net beginning tonight at 2100 hrs.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
Savannah, GA

Effingham County ARES Meeting

Effingham County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ECARES) will be hosting a meeting on Tuesday, 4 September 2007 at 6:00 PM at Effingham Fire/Rescue Station 2 on GA Hwy 17 near Blue Jay Rd. Topics to be covered will be ARES support of Effingham and surrounding counties as well as increasing awareness of ARES, ideas for exercises, and training opportunities.

Talk-In will be on the 146.970 repeater for those unfamiliar with Station 2's location. You may also contact Todd Hargrave, KD6RYQ the Effingham County EC for more information. If you can't contact him via one of the area 2-meter repeaters or local nets, let me know and I'll pass your information along to him.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Georgia Pacific TRS, Effingham County

During the week, I stumbled across the Georgia Pacific 800 mHz TRS while doing an 800 search in Effingham County. It is located at the Georgia Pacific Plant off of Fort Howard Road in Effingham County. The BC396 showed a Sys ID of 3934h on control chanenel 856.7875.

An FCC license search shows it as part of WPBN679. The frequencies licensed are:

854.7875
854.8875
855.7875
856.7875

The only talkgroup I heard active was TG 17680 (analog), but it was very late in the evening.


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Effingham County Forest Fires

The map at left is the Georgia Forestry Fire Danger Rating Map for April 16, 2007. To put it simply, green is good and purple is bad. It is obvious that the Savannah area is in a bad way. You can check the fire danger rating throughout the state with this map; it is updated daily here.

Firefighters and Forestry Workers in Effingham County fought three different fires today; one in the area of the County Landfill, one north of Springfield, and one in the Hodgeville Road area. Based on monitoring, they were problematic due to the very high winds in the area today. Similar to the fires of last week, a Georgia Forestry aircraft was fire spotting for the ground crews and personnel from other departments were called to assist. As near as I could tell, the Pooler and Bloomingdale Fire Departments sent apparatus and personnel for the Landfill area fire and Newington may have sent some for the fire north of Springfield.

I didn't have the chance to monitor these fires as in depth as I did the one in Chatham County last week, but this fire was an opportunity to discover and identify some new talkgroups on the Chatham-Effingham Trunked Repeater System.

Conventional Frequencies

155.355 - Effingham Fire/EMS Dispatch

155.115 - Effingham North Fire Repeater

159.390 - Georgia Forestry Mobile-to-Mobile

Chatham-Effingham TRS

17200 - Effingham Fire/Rescue Admin 2

26456 - Effingham Fire Dispatch

26488 - Effingham EMS Dispatch

25104 - Effingham Fire/Rescue Fireground 1

25136 - Effingham Fire/Rescue Fireground 2

25168 - Effingham Fire/Rescue Fireground 3

25200 - Effingham Fire/Rescue Admin 1

25904 - Rincon FD

26064 - Guyton FD

26512 - Effingham County Incident 1

26544 - Effingham County Incident 2

26576 - Effingham County Incident 3

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT

kf4lmt@comcast.net

Forest Fires in Chatham and Effingham Counties

Dry conditions finally caught up with us today. Throughout the afternoon and this evening, Georgia Forestry and local fire departments fought forest fires in Chatham County near I-16 and the Pooler Parkway and in Effingham County near Guyton. Air operations augmented the firefighters and bulldozers on the ground at both fires. Based on radio traffic between the Georgia Forestry aircraft, there were also fires in Long County and Bulloch County.

Note the presence of Eastern District (Sunbury) fire units working the fire in Chatham County. Additional units from other counties were also on standby for mutual aid as well.

Chatham Forest Fire
Conventional Frequencies
159.225 - Georgia Forestry District 10 Repeater

159.390 - Georgia Forestry Mobile-to-Mobile
-Aircraft 0Z/38H, fire spotting
-CHOPPER 3, water drops
-013
-POOLER COMMAND CENTER
-BRYAN ##, CHATHAM ##, EMMANUEL ##, JENKINS ##, LONG ##, TATTNALL ##

168.775 - Ch. 9 (US Forestry 1)
-Aircraft 0Z wkg BRYAN ##

169.900 - Ch. 10 (US Forestry 3)
-Aircraft 0Z wkg CHATHAM ##

123.400 - Georgia Forestry Air-to-Air
-Aircraft 0Z
-CHOPPER 3
-CHOPPER 7 (sent to Effingham Fire)
-N241JH (Chatham Co.)
-Air Tractor N60057 (Chatham Co.)

Chatham-Effingham TRS
TG 37072 - Fire Common, Primary Working Channel
-COMMAND
-ENTRY CONTROL
-STAGING
-Savannah Fire
-Garden City FD 2#, 12##
-Port Wentworth FD 4#, 14##
-Thunderbolt FD 5#, 5##
-Pooler FD 6#, 16##
-Bloomingdale FD 8#, 18##
-Southside FD
-CEMA 3, CEMA 4
-Effingham FD 54
-Eastern District (Sunbury) 2#

TG 36880 - Savannah Fire Dispatch
TG 36912 - Savannah Fire Admin
TG 3568 - Chatham Metro Fire Dispatch
TG 4592 - Port Wentworth FD
TG 4752 - Thunderbolt FD
TG 5040 - Garden City FD
TG 5424 - Pooler FD


Effingham Forest Fire
Conventional Frequencies
159.225 - Georgia Forestry District 10 Repeater

159.285 - SE Compact
-Aircraft 0X, fire spotting
-CHOPPER 7, water drops
-BULLOCH ##
-EFFINGHAM ##

155.355 - Effingham Fire/EMS Dispatch
155.115 - North Effingham Fire Repeater

Chatham-Effingham TRS
TG 25200 - Effingham Fire Admin 1
TG 25104 - Effingham Fire Fireground 1


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Chatham-Effingham TRS Talkgroup Updates

Over the last week, I've been able to confirm two more Effingham County talkgroups: Effingham Fire/Rescue Fireground 2 and Guyton FD.

TG 25136 - Effingham Fire/Rescue Fireground 2
TG 26064 - Guyton FD

With 25136 confirmed as Fireground 2 and 25200 as Admin 1, I would feel very safe in considering 25168 as Fireground 3, even though I haven't heard it in use yet. As far as city FDs in Effingham goes, with Rincon on 25904 and Guyton on 26064, Springfield is the only city FD that a city channel hasn't been found for yet.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

New Chatham-Effingham TRS Talkgroups

Over the last few weeks, I've identified some new Chatham-Effingham TRS talkgroups and re-identified a previously known one:

Re-identified:
TG 25200 - Effingham Fire-Rescue ADMIN 1 (previously ID'd as simply ADMIN)

Newly identified:
TG 17200 - Effingham Fire-Rescue ADMIN 2 (Digital)
TG 26512 - Effingham County INCIDENT 1


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Effingham Fire Dispatch Changes

In the last few days, I've heard Effingham County dispatching fire calls over the 155.355 EMS repeater. Prior to that, I heard units 6601 and 4401 (Effingham and Rincon fire chiefs respectively) doing testing with Dispatch, with test pages being sent over the EMS repeater. It seems that they don't quite have things fully sorted out. The audio from dispatch is muffled and hard to understand, not only to the scanner listener but to the fire units as well.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net