Victoria bushfires · radio amateurs providing communications

The Red Cross communications arm RECOM, run by radio amateurs, provided vital support as bushfires raged in the Gippsland region of eastern Victoria, Australia.

Two RECOM units were activated on Thursday 29 January to provide communications at the Mirboo North and Churchill relief centres as hundreds of people were forced by the fires to leave their homes or unable to reach them.

The Gippsland fires destroyed 30 homes plus numerous sheds and vehicles.

Almost 700 evacuees or displaced persons were registered by the RECOM units with that information being transmitted by digitally encrypted HF radio back to the Red Cross State Inquiry Centre in Melbourne.

The National Registration and Inquiry System operated by the Red Cross provides the relatives and friends of the evacuees a single contact point for information on their whereabouts.

The hams involved were Bruce VK3BMK, Graeme VK3BXG, Peter VK3AUO, Donald VK3BPD, John VK3BQS, Warren VK3XSW, Graham VK3GBJ and John VK3ATQ.

This latest deployment came during a once-in-a-century record three days heat-wave with temperatures topping 43 degrees Celsius - 109 on the Fahrenheit sale.

RECOM was established around 1999 and provides communications support for the Victorian Red Cross emergency service – but can be deployed to anywhere in
Australia.

Jim Linton VK3PC
Wireless Institute of Australia