OROVILLE -- One of the local groups that has pitched in to help throughout the recent wildfires in Northern California is the Oroville Amateur Radio Society. The group is composed of "ham" radio operators licensed to transmit at high frequencies, said president Larry Thompson. Radios have been set up in the basement of the society's station, where unpaid amateurs communicate with the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other agencies to transmit information 24 hours a day. Most society members belong to the American Radio Relay League, which was established by the federal government a "long, long time ago," Thompson said. In World War II, people in occupied countries used amateur radios to communicate with the outside world. "That's how the amateur-radio emergency thing started," he said. "Communicating on frequencies that nobody else would be on." OARS uses many frequencies, and transmissions can be heard on hand-held scanners, Thompson said. This is convenient for people who have no power or electricity during times of crisis.Source:  eHam.net and ChicoER

What would you do if you saw a horse, a cow or another large animal in trouble? The Large Animal Rescue Training helps you find answers for that problem. This is a training certified by the California Fire Marshall. It is well worth taking it!

The Large Animal Rescue Company offers an 8-hour course that teaches the students rescue concepts, scene management, operations, and equipment. It covers trailer-incidents, trail-incidents and stable-incidents. Rescuer safety is emphasized throughout the class.

This class will give the rescuers a basic set of tools and knowledge to perform a large animal rescue. The techniques taught in this course are based on the equipment carried on most type 1 (standard fire fighting) engines. This class will teach how to improvise straps and lifting harnesses out of fire hose and how to adapt rope systems for use with large, unpredictable animals. The course builds on existing fire service training such as Rescue systems 1 (Heavy Rescue), Vehicle Extrication, Confined Space Entry, and Haz Mat. With these technical skills, blended with an understanding of animal behavior, LAR can be a routine response.