 2014 through 2018, Northern California was under siege. I had no cell, no internet, no TV. I didn't know what was going on. Unusually aggressive wildfires. Among them, 2017's Wall Fire and 2019's Sweetie's Fire. State of emergency in Butte County where a fast fire... Entire towns burned and trapped residents. Some died, but none was as deadly as the campfire. She called me up to say goodbye on her cell phone. But then the cell lost its signal. Too often was the terrifying inability to communicate with loved ones, with anyone. It was gut wrenching. It was like having a knife inserted into your stomach and then twisted because I was under the impression for about five hours that my wife had died a fiery and horrific death. Oh, thank God I got out of there. Okay. Fires burned through phone, cable and power lines as well as cell towers. I have no cell signal. I can't do anything. There was no information on what to do, where to go, or just how dangerous the situations were. When I didn't have communication with the outside world, I'm vulnerable. I don't like this. This isn't going to work for me. So, Lois Miller connected with fellow Butte County neighbor Marissa Broward Gifford to figure out some kind of solution to the communication breakdown. A fire in these east foothills. Is a fire for all of us. Is a fire for the South County. Is a fire for South County. Because it can go anywhere in a small amount of time. People like Marissa and Lois, who live in rural areas, have to rely more on themselves and each other during emergencies. It could take too much time for help to arrive, if at all. Lois and Marissa held a community meeting in July of 2019. A hundred people showed up and they all felt the same. Helpless. It was time for that to change. By the end of that meeting, a solution was proposed. Expert recommendations from two men who happened to be at that meeting. Kevin Fullerton and Theodore Cochran. How are we going to communicate? Radios, batteries, a network, come on. We can do this. There's a way. General Mobile Radio Service or GMRS. It's a two-way radio system similar to those family walkie-talkies with much more power and transmission distance. This is WREA 9-1-1. John, are you available? Over. This is Whiskey Romeo Echo Alpha 864. Hi, Lois. In two months, Lois bought her first radio. Soon after, about 75 of her neighbors bought them too. They put units in their homes, in their cars, and installed antennas on their roofs to get the most distance, some 50 miles or more. But there was still one problem. That ridge separating the east zone of Butte County from the west. Right out here is the dam. So from that point there, going all the way down this ridge line to Bangor is the affected area. No worries. Theodore had the expertise and a plan. Okay, well over my shoulder is the repeater antenna. An antenna that will capture all those GMRS signals, send them to this repeater, and then back out the antenna to radios miles away. It gave us the ability to tie the two zones together, which gave us the full coverage area that we were looking for. And that includes a direct two-way signal to the Butte County Sheriff's Office. Kevin Fullerton is a Butte County Sheriff's Reserve Communications Officer. When a wildfire strikes, he and his team of 15 volunteers will be able to talk directly to everyone using the GMRS radios in the Mount Ida community and will for the first 12 hours of any critical emergency. And we're going to be sharing evacuation routes, the knowledge that we know about the situation, how it's playing out, and what we're doing to get people out of the area. Power outages and downed cell towers and phone lines are no longer an obstacle to communications. These radios are backed up with batteries. Linda Oslin's neighbors have gathered at her Mount Ida home. They all spent the $250 to $600 for the radios and have nothing but praise for their new lifelines. I can get on that radio if I need to contact somebody very fast without having to remember a phone number or where my cell phone is or something like that. For me, it's very comforting and just to hear voices too. John F. for a radio check. You can always find somebody on the radio and word of mouth is invaluable in an emergency situation. It took just a little time to learn how to use it. Every Tuesday night, the Mount Ida community conducts their net control. A roll call of sorts giving everyone a chance to say hello and practice. Yeah, you're not alone. It's a party line. It's a party line. You get to know your neighbors. There's always somebody on the party line. This old school technology has given them peace of mind, something today's technology couldn't. Got the radio. First time we did our roll call, I slept like a log.