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Situational Awareness During Wildfire Incidents

This workshop was developed for a Plumas County VOAD meeting on 7/23/2025

Introduction

This workshop is geared toward citizen responders and secondary response organizations that are involved with their local VOAD – Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

All the information presented reflects Plumas County, California, but you can do some research to update this information to reflect your local community.

Level 1: Introduction to Key Tools

With an internet connection or cell phone signal, you can access several key tools that will keep you up to date with wildfire events.

  • Watch Duty reports on wildfires throughout the western United States, with automated data supported by experienced reporter analysts who verify information and provide updates on incidents. Watch Duty also shows weather, wind direction, power outages, live landscape cameras, and for a fee you can purchase additional features. Also available as an app for download to your mobile device.
  • Fire agency incident tracking. In Plumas County, the large land manager is the US Forest Service, and we have both the Plumas National Forest and Lassen National Forest responding to wildfires. In addition, the Bureau of Land Management manages grasslands and other properties in Plumas County. All incidents that start on federal lands will be tracked on Inciweb.
  • Federal Incidents – Inciweb
  • CalFire IncidentsThere are also properties in Plumas County that are the responsibility of CalFire when it comes to wildfire. However, CalFire will typically coordinate with federal agencies for initial response, since there are few CalFire resources based in Plumas County.
  • Local Responsibility Areas are those that are served by fire districts. These fire districts may provide an initial response, but for sizable wildland fires, the federal agencies will provide assistance. Use this map to check an address to see which fire district covers the property.
  • This CalFire map shows the boundaries of the Federal, State, and Local responsibility areas.
  • Wildland monitoring cameras. These cameras are controlled by public safety agencies and can pan and zoom to evaluate smoke and other conditions. Alert West provides access to a large number of cameras through their website. It takes a little exploration, but you can use the map on the website to zoom into an area and see all the camera views in one dashboard, with most recently moved cameras at the top. The map also shows you colored lines that indicate cameras that have recently moved.

Level 2: Monitoring Public Safety Agencies

Our public safety agencies all have web pages, but these pages are not updated in real time. Instead, look to Facebook for time critical information. Unfortunately, the Facebook algorithm will not show you posts in chronological order, so be sure you navigate to the agency’s page (using the links below), where you can see posts in order.

Facebook Links

Dispatch logs

  • Plumas National Forest
  • Tahoe National Forest is supported by the Grass Valley Communications Center
  • California Highway Patrol Dispatch Center – Susanville covers Plumas County. Choose the Susanville communications center from the pulldown menu at the top of the page.
  • Federal agencies based in Susanville use the Susanville Interagency ECC, but their dispatch logs are not available on the internet.

Wireless Emergency Alerts

  • PBS Warn (requires internet connection) – allows you to see what wireless alerts have been issued to cell phones within a prescribed geographical area, even if you are not within that area

Genasys Protect

  • The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office uses this third party software to manage evacuations and shelter-in-place orders. You can sign up for alerts, see evacuation zones, and search by address.

Large Incident Planning Documents

  • Available on the NIFC FTP Server
  • Daily incident action plans
  • Operations maps
  • Public information maps
  • Restoration maps

Power Outages and Restoration

There are several power utility companies that service Plumas County. While some have dedicated outage pages and opt-in text updates, others mainly use Facebook to update customers. The Watch Duty app has a layer that can be turned on to show current power outages for all the utilities.

Level 3: Listening to Public Safety Radio Traffic

Use Your Own Scanner

Radio scanners are one-way receivers that scan a wide range of frequencies. Affordable scanners can be purchased new, or look for a used handheld scanner like the Uniden BC125AT on EBay. It takes some patience and effort to set these up so that they are scanning just the channels you want to listen to, but they don’t require an internet connection and can be run from a battery if the power is out. You can also connect your scanner to an antenna to extend its reach, but be careful to avoid lightning and other risks that come with outdoor antenna installations.

  • Radio Reference is a website tool for researching agencies and frequencies.

Listen Over the Internet

  • Broadcastify is a webpage that allows people with scanners to stream their feeds over the internet.
  • Look for general public safety channels by location. During disasters, organizations like Watch Duty may set up special channels covering only traffic from incident command agency.
  • Plumas County Public Safety is streaming from Quincy
  • Lassen County feeds may provide coverage that includes Lake Almanor area
  • Archives are available on Broadcastify so that you can go back and find recordings from specific channels
  • Consider streaming your own feed! Broadcastify provides a wealth of tools and knowledge to help you connect your local scanner to the internet
  • Mobile apps are available that port over Broadcastify feeds to your mobile device. Scanner Radio is a popular option.

Public Safety Terminology

Fire Terms You Might Hear on the Scanner

Level 4: Weather Fundamentals

The National Weather Service website is the best source for weather forecasts and event information and warnings. Unlike the app that comes with your mobile phone, which is usually based on a single weather model, the NWS forecasts use multiple weather models (called ensembles) and a huge amount of human intelligence to create forecasts, in particular the warnings that are issued for storms and fire weather. The NWS is not allowed to have its own weather app, so you need to access it through an internet browser.

  • Become a weather spotter! SkyWARN https://www.weather.gov/skywarn/
  • There are tons of free online weather training available at MetEd. https://www.meted.ucar.edu/education_training
  • The best weather radar app is RadarScope, which costs $10 to purchase, or you can subscribe to the premium service for an additional $14/month.
  • The best lightning app is My Lightning Tracker, available as a free app with paid ad-free option.

NOAA Weather Radio and Alerts

  • Buy a battery operated radio that broadcasts the NOAA weather station. If you get a radio that has SAME capabilities, you’ll be able to set it up to decode certain kinds of alert tones, similar to the toneouts you hear on a scanner.  https://www.weather.gov/mob/nwrhelp
  • For Plumas County, the following frequencies may be caught on your weather radio, sourced from the NWS for California and Nevada.
Ch#FrequencyPlumas County Warning Area Transmitters
1162.400 MHz
2162.425 MHz
3162.450 MHzFernley, NV
4162.475 MHz
5162.500 MHzSusanville, CA
6162.525 MHz
7162.550 MHzReno, NV, Redding, CA and Sacramento, CA

Level 5: Community Updates and Information During Wildfire

211

The 211 information service is new to Plumas County and is operated by the Northern California United Way. 211 connects you to knowledgeable and confidential help.

  • Dial 211 on your phone within Plumas County, or from outside Plumas County call 844-652-0822
  • You can also visit their webpage
  • During disasters, United Way will set up a special website to provide information to affected people

Education

These websites will provide updates about school closures and evacuations.

Roads and Transit

Plumas County Road Conditions
State Route Road Conditions from CalTrans – Quickmap is also available as an app for mobile devices
California Highway Patrol Dispatch Center – Susanville covers Plumas County. Choose the Susanville communications center from the pulldown menu at the top of the page.
Plumas County Transit provides public van transportation within Plumas County and is operated by Plumas Rural Services. Plumas County Transit also provides para-transit services.
Plumas County Senior Nutrition and Transportation provides rides to and from doctors offices, including within and outside Plumas County. They also provide rides for other purposes within Plumas County.

Plumas County VOAD

  • Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster are collectives of non-profits and volunteers who respond to support communities during disaster
  • Plumas County VOAD activates when the county government activates its Emergency Operations Center

FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Agency

FEMA will activate after a major natural disaster has been declared a federal disaster. But you can monitor FEMA activities in two ways:

Incident Profiles and Reporting

When you are collecting information to share with your friends, family, and networks, please use verified information that comes from official sources.