California firefighters have got their hands full, right now, and it is, of course, impossible for them to be everywhere. In San Diego, though, they're getting some help from some volunteers with a special skill.The volunteers are ham-radio operators with amateur radio licenses that allow them to communicate on all kinds of different frequencies. 

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

Our friends in Orinda maintain a web page with all important frequencies. Please visit K6ORI: Frequency Charts  to see what frequencies are important, especially for CERT HAMs.

Orinda's Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) team is offering a 6 session Ham radio license training class for Orinda, Lafayette and Moraga citizens in January.  The free classes are usually held in the Orinda City Office Block on Tuesday nights from 7-9 pm for six weeks.

 Please contact Marty Heyman, , to sign up.