Using Two-Way Radio Sn Waipoua Fire Control

Northern Advocate, 4 December 1947, Page 7

Using Two-Way Radio Sn Waipoua Fire Control

MODERN fire-control methods are now m use at the Waipoua State Forest with two-way radio communication with Dargaville and a base station at Riverhead. Recently the equipment was tested at Dargaville when a lire service truck worked station ZLAG at Riverhead with perfect clarity

Although this test was satisfactory the radio sets have yet to prove themselves in the daytiipe. Short-wave radio such as is used in the service is much more susceptible to interference during the daytime. The Waipoua Forest Supervisor (Mr A. M. Moore) said that the radio sets would facilitate the control of fires in the forest to a remarkable degree. The mobile transmitter fitted to a truck could be dispatched immediately to the scene of the fire, and up-to-date information sent back to headquarters where a reserve a fire-fight-ers and equipment could be held against a call from a truck. If a major fire threatened the forest, reinforcements could be called up from further afield with a greater chance of controlling the outbreak in the early stages. It is intended to provide all the forestry areas in Northland with mobile" radios which will link up with the circuit through the powerful 45watt station which is being installed at Kaikohe. From Kaikohe news can be relayed to Riverhead and from there to departmental headquarters in Wellington.

Two-way radio communication has been in use at Rotorua for the past two or three years and has been found most useful in dealing with the fires that have swept the district in recent years.