During an Orcas Fire simulated emergency drill, volunteers encountered some very real problems: radio difficulty and unavailable responders.

“This was great because these things can really happen,” Fire Chief Kevin O’Brien said.

Orcas Island Fire and Rescue performed a community-based drill in the Deer Harbor area on May 18. It involved a simulated wildfire in the Spring Point neighborhood with response from Deer Harbor Community members, San Juan County Sheriff, San Juan County Department of Emergency Management, U.S. Coast Guard, The Red Cross and Airlift Northwest.

The exercise was spearheaded by Deer Harbor residents David Schermerhorn and Bob Connor.

The drill included firefighting, EMS transport with Airlift Northwest, and a marine evacuation from Spring Point to Deer Harbor. The Red Cross set up a support shelter at the Deer Harbor Inn and residents initiated their emergency phone tree. The new Station 24 in Deer Harbor served as the command post for the drill.

Orcas Fire volunteers treated it like a real incident, calling in for firefighting help from San Juan and Lopez as well as from Skagit, Cascade and Island Counties.

The Sheriff and the U.S. Coast Guard were slated to transport the evacuees, but half an hour before the 9 a.m. dispatch, the Coast Guard boat blew its port engine.

Once the drill was underway, the Sheriff’s boat was called away to a real emergency incident. The marine evacuation was delayed until a Deer Harbor whale watching boat offered to take the evacuees.

The biggest obstacle of the day was communications. Once crews got into Deer Harbor, there were significant radio problems and cell phone service was minimal.  Coordination between the different response groups was impossible.

After trying several different frequencies, ham radio expert Wayne Rankin came to the rescue, implementing the DEM repeater.

“This is a profound problem,” O’Brien said. “We need more repeaters on the island.”

O’Brien says he and representatives from the department and the sheriff’s office are part of a committee that is hoping to tackle the communications problem in sections of Orcas Island.

“We’re trying to figure out if we can use radio waves through the Internet to get to the main repeater,” O’Brien said. “It needs to be cost effective and affordable. We very much want to partner with OPALCO’s broadband project.”