Glynn County Train Trestle Fire

Location: Brunswick

http://www.news4jax.com/news/22845148/detail.html

I woke up this afternoon, turned on the radios and the first thing I heard was Glynn County FD F2 active with what sounded like a brush fire involving railroad cars. After a bit, I figured out that the incident was at Georgia Ports; I had to run out and do a few things anyway, so I drove down to US 17 near the ports and saw that the fire was a Train Trestle at Colonel's Island and some train cars on fire. It appeared that the flames were knocked down, but there was still a good bit of smoke. Glynn County FD was on scene and some Camden County units responded for mutual aid. Georgia Ports and Railroad representatives were also on scene. It looks like the integrity of the trestle and condition of the rails could be issues.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Aircraft Crash at Malcolm McKinnon Airport (SSI)

I initially got this out to the blog via a Twitter post this afternoon, but I wanted to get out a regular blog post about it as well. Shortly after 1500 today, a single engine two seat aircraft crashed on the runway at Malcolm McKinnon Airport on St. Simons Island. Zone 2 and other units from Glynn County FD responded to find the aircraft near the middle of the runway upright with moderate damage and one minor injury. Shortly after arrival, all units shifted from GCFD F1 to GCFD F2 for incident operations (this was the first time I've heard them move incident ops off of the F1 dispatch TG). It was also reported that a USCG helicopter was orbiting overhead when the first units arrived on scene (I didn't hear the USCG comms, it is hard to get simplex communications like that from inside this building with a handheld). Engine 2 and Squad 4 ended up handling the situation. Airport authorities were notified and the runway was closed.

If anyone heard any of the USCG comms on this incident I'd love to hear about it. I would guess they were either on CG 410 (413.000 MHz P25) or CG 113 (163.1375 MHz P25)

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Glynn County FD Agency Overview

The Glynn County Fire Department provides fire, rescue, and emergency medical services for the unincorporated areas of Glynn County, St. Simons Island, and the two airports in Glynn County: the Glynco Jetport and Malcolm McKinnon airport. They have a very good website at www.glynncountyfiredept.org that has a further description of the department and their services. Judging by their website, the department is also scanner friendly; they list the frequencies for the Glynn County TRS and the conventional VHF repeater that simulcasts their traffic. It is important for those that don't monitor Glynn County frequently that Glynn County FD uses Squad in a different fashion than many areas; in Glynn County a Squad is an EMS unit (ambulance).

The Glynn County Fire Department is organized into 8 fire stations with at least two unit riding out of each station. For the most part, unit numbering is based off of the station they are based out of. Supervisors and other units such as inspectors use 5#, 6#, and 7# unit numbers. The Fire Chief is Car 57 and the Deputy Chief is Car 59. Each Platoon (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) has a Deputy Chief whose unit numbers are Cars 52, 51, and 53 respectively. Other supervisors are the Captain of Prevention, Car 58; the Captain of Rescue, Car 64; and the Captain of Training, Car 66. The two inspectors are Cars 68 and 78.

They are dispatched by Glynn County 911 but they also work with Fire Control, which is a departmental station that provides information on hydrant locations, makes changes to responses, and coordinates departmental activity. Although they have multiple talkgroup assignments on the Glynn County TRS, most all of their communications are on the F-1 talkgroup; for some unit-to-unit communications they will switch to the F-2 talkgroup. So far, I've not heard them move off of F-1 for fireground communications. As mentioned previously, the F-1 talkgroup is also simulcast on the 154.385 Glynn County FD repeater.

Station 1 (Headquarters) - 4310 Community Rd, Brunswick
Deputy Chiefs, Car 51, 52, 53
Engines 1 and 11
Ladder Tower 1
Rescue 1
Tanker 1
Squad 1
Haz Mat 1
Support Unit 109

Station 2 - 1929 Demere Rd, St. Simons (Near Malcolm McKinnon)
Engine 2
Rescue 2
Squad 2
Support Unit 107

Station 3 - 127 Grants Ferry Rd, Brunswick
Engine 3
Squad 3

Station 4 - 3581 Frederica Rd, St. Simons
Engine 4
Ladder 4
Squad 4
Engine 32

Station 5 - 500 Connole St, Brunswick (Glynco Jetport)
Engine 5
Crash Fire Rescue 5
Crash Fire Rescue 12

Station 6 - 3320 Hwy 17 South, Brunswick
Engine 6
Squad 6

Station 7 - 2911 Lawrence Rd, St. Simons
Engine 7
Tanker 7

Station8 - Public Safety Blvd
Engine 8
Squad 8
Tactical Support 65
Investigation Unit A1

Reserve Units
Engine 9
Engine 10
Engine 12
Snorkel 21
Ambulance


Sources:
Glynn County FD Website
http://www.glynncountyfiredept.org

Personal Monitoring Experience


Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT