AFMC Command News

Air Force communications support aids fight against California fires

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  When California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently called on several Air National Guard units to help fight wildfires, one of those units, the 149th Combat Communications Squadron, in turn sought help from the Electronic Systems Center here.

The Guard unit, based out of the North Highlands Air National Guard Station near Sacramento, Calif., was asked to establish remote communication capability to support the firefighting and relief effort. Once fully established, this communications operation would dramatically enhance the command and control capabilities of units working to combat the blazes.

According to Joe Morrissey, a MITRE Corp., systems engineer who works with ESC's 753rd Electronic Systems Group, the Guard unit needed to set up a remote telecommunications switch that would allow them to connect with the main switch back on the fixed base.

"That wasn't a real problem, but they needed to then be able to connect, through that main switch, to a commercial hub to establish commercial phone service, as well as to the Defense Information Services Agency, to establish Defense Switching Network, or DSN, service," he said.

That did prove challenging, so the Guard unit sent an SOS to people at Hanscom AFB who had provided the remote equipment -- the Theater Deployable Communication program office.

"After hours and over weekend time, our people talked them through the processes to get everything working the way it needed to," said Janet Maddox, the TDC program manager.

The ESC team did all of this without spending time or money for a cross-country trip.

"It's a little difficult because you can't see exactly what they're seeing," said John Mulrey, a program office engineer who took the initial call. Nevertheless, ESC and MITRE personnel, who stayed in constant contact with the Guard unit members, managed to solve the configuration issues within four or five hours, although they went on to provide additional network support for about two weeks.

"Now all the participants have much better overall situational awareness," Mr. Morrissey said. "Information can flow easily flow back and forth, and real-time decisions can be made."

This means, among many other things, that Guard units operating at fire sites can reach back to the state's adjutant general when, for instance, more assistance is needed. It also means that civil authorities can quickly contact the Red Cross and other organizations to discuss their needs and progress.