HomeMy WebLinkAboutCBers react in a variety of emergencies 1977 as
M By BARBARA UTLEY the Bear" being nearby. Neb., said the death toll Emergency Associated
o But those who know them would have been much Citizens Teams.
recognize the presence and higher had
Fea tures and
News Service "The local nature of . C 1 B
Q
o>= ., Johnstown, Pa., a small a When the rains smashed work of the Citizen Band early warning been no ng by CBers with a r ang o 5 t2.0 y i e
a before a devastating
ides in disasters. volvement and coor-
group of people came from Wherever page-one tornado slashed through dination at the local level,"
d many directions, some headlines grow from the community. Reese adds. "REACT
negotiating washed out natural disasters, and at a While most of the
and flooded roads to help lot of incidents that get 15,000,000 CB radio owners teams are now active in
re than 1,000 com-
meet emergencies in the o n l y l o c a l n o t i c e, use their equipment to talk munities in the United
and
o disaster. States, Canada and other
In the early dawn last with h their radios to provide other motorists, a growing mo countries . ' ' REACT
c October 20, another group s h o r t - r a n g e c o m- number have joined into monitors CB channel 9 in
g munications. teams and affiliated with
° • left homes without break- fast after the Norwegian They were at Loveland, REACT, an international as Bryan well and College Station,
as throughout the
a) freighter Frosta struck the Colo., when Thompson o headquar- Brazos Valley.
m commuter ferry George creek rampaged; at Rapid tered in Chicago. More than 1,600 REACT
City, S.D., when the dam "Volunteers can per-
t/ P dumping passengers to their deaths broke; teams with 120,000
at Xenia, Ohio, form a very significant members operate
a in the muddy Mississippi when an unexpected tor- public service," says throughout North
Amr
m
- l River near New Orleans. nado created death valley; G e r a l d H. R e e s e, America and in
Those unaccustomed at the Beverly Hills night managing director ° Venezuela, Canal Zone and
LI, ` witlt� °their extracurricular club in Northern Kentucky REACT International, some European countries.
E w hen fire hit. Inc . , a non r o f i t Non -CBers may not
W , work warning about image of k may still see them in And two years ago, organization that takes its
i t know about the CB teams,
_ the " public officials at Omaha, name f R but local and state police,
4.0.11 American Red Cross, Civil
It
Defense, radio and
O television stations, , i , Ili
e ,i: newspapers and others ot involved in public safety
, ,. �' and rescue missions know
g : g ' ,a about them and call upon
> 111 „ , , i 41,, la t,� t rl however, have
(1) - heminc
m Police
— . � � � not always been .happy
:,. with CBers. Some state
police have resented, as
they were trying to enforce
•. 4; \ ; . the 55-mile-per-hour speed
(ZS , k ". i } limit, having CBs used
+ ma y against them. And some
s' ''' 15. ,,. "fi ;. local police have co-
" 's, g in v' wbV,i .iwr , l \‘‘';', �•, '"- plained about radi
o in
terference from CBers,
* b w � " " > f - . and CBers who somtimes
( TS , ' , te x i 4 111
' ., a.. * 3 try to play like police.
Unorganized CBs also
- , - have caused some trouble if , °` gathering at disasters and
� • k r - filling the air waves w ith a
` ) lot of chatter. But mostly
■MEM=
they now stay off the air
Louise Parsons at the CB ra (Photo by FAN)
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when requested, as they A ACT estimates, based She says CB monitoring REACT team, fire and
did at the Kentucky night on an 80 percent par- for emergency calls would " po1ice officials met and
club fire near Cincinnati. ticipation rate, that the be a worthwhile activity divided up the CB channels
More state agencies, total comes to 350,000,000 for the handicapped and for different uses. Every
especially the highway man -hours per year, using others confined to home. A odd numbered channel was
patrol, now monitor the CB e q u i p m e n t w o r t h more widespread netowrk, used. Channel one was
emergency channel r 9. $48,000,000. she says, would mean police and fire, five was for
They find it more effective Many REACT teams greater highway safety. search west of Stonebridge
and less costly than call have acquired vans and Citizen monitors of in the center of town, and
boxes on major highways. equipped them not only channel 9 notify police of eleven was for search east
Today's CB craze, and with CB radio equipment, any calls for help. of Stonebridge.
its potential for help in but police monitors, ham Because of the short Other channels were
emergencies, took some radios and first aid distance CB radio carries, assigned to ambulance
time to blossom, equipment, making them thousands of home stations service, civil defense, Red
Nineteen years ago, the mobile command posts. would have to be operating Cross, truckers and
Federal Communications Some major companies to provide a nation -wide National Guard, while two
Commission established 23 have donated vans to network. Some think it is channels were kept for
CB channels. In the first 15 REACT teams, while not possible. general information and to-
years, FCC received only others have acquired them CBers could be getting relay messages to ham
1,000,000 license ap- through fund - raising more involved in highway radio operators who sent
plications. events. e m e r g e n c y c o m- them throughout North -
Now, the agency is Efforts are now being munications because of a America. Channel 9 was
flooded with applications, made by some CBers to new program that permits the emergency channel, '
more than 900,000 in one e s t a b l i s h a m o r e states to spend highway but it could not handle all
recent month. Nearly $200 widespread network of funds to coordinate CB the traffic and that is why
million was spent last year monitors across the U.S. efforts. the others were allocated •
on CB equipment, up from and Canada, among them At Johnstown, members to specific purposes. • . .
$32 million in 1973. The being Mrs. Louise Par- of the Johnstown area "It worked beautifully,"
trend in CBs convinced sons, East Natick, Mass., a REACT began to operate Mrs. Dudek reported.
Motorola, Inc., the giant bacterologist. during the seven severe "There was no chit chat,
electronics firm, to enter She recently traveled to lightning storms that hit although there was noise
the field with its own 40 a number of cities to en- the night of July 19 -20. The on one channel and we may
channel radios. courage more people to storms broke dams and file a complaint with the _
The increased sales of volunteer their time to isolated people on Dishong FCC about it.
CB radios means a monitor on home based Mountain. Lightning "I was in the flood of 1936
growing number of stations the CB emergency knocked out police and fire here, but I've never seen
operators and REACT sees channel 9, which REACT radios. Only CB radios lightning like we had this
a larger force of citizens pushed for from FCC as a operated in the area. time. We didn't have CBs
getting involved in high- public safety measure. "Without CB, this town in 1936. _
w a y s a f e t y a n d Mrs. Parsons undertook would not have recovered The experience at
emergencies in the future. her promotion work after as fast as it did," says Mrs. Johnstown seems to in- .
REACT says that more she and her husband, Jane Dudek, who operated dicate that CBers are
than 250,000 CB monitors Sidney, suffered a highway a base station in her home proving that their radio
contribute their own time breakdown on a lonely in the west end of town. viewed by some in the
and money, for equipment, road in Western Penn- John s t o w n M a y o r recent past as an adult,
to highway safety and sylvania and were unable Herbert Pfuhl, Kenneth toy, becomes a life saver at
other emergencies. to get help for a longtime. Dawson, head of the disasters. - -