As a community non-profit organization we strive to work with you in reducing wildfire damage and devastation through our no-cost programs and resources. We formed in 1998 and have a 17 member Board of Directors, 3 staff and numerous volunteers. One of the questions we are asked most is:
"What is the Butte County Public Safety Scanner and what is its relationship to the Butte County Fire Safe Coun
cil?"
So we thought we would introduce ourselves to our guests:
The Butte County Public Safety Scanner started in 2005 as a small website with the goal of getting radio traffic from Butte County's first responders to the public using Internet audio and video streaming technologies. Between 2005 and 2008, the site continued to grow and offer more services including the addition of the realtime chat room as well as the expansion of scanner listening ports from 30 to 150. In June of 2008, Butte County endured one of the most significant fire seasons in its history. The site's chat room quickly became a gathering place for people from all over the county as well as many other parts of the country. The people of Butte County graciously donated the funds necessary to lease an entire server in a data center in Texas so that we could expand the number of scanner listening ports from 150 to over 10,000 which continues to this day. In 2010, the creator and owner of the Butte County Public Safety Scanner website moved out of the area and was looking for someone to carry on the work of providing this valued service to the community. The Butte County Fire Safe Council generously stepped in and took over operations of the Butte County Public Safety Scanner website and its services. The combination of real world services provided by the Butte County Fire Safe Council and digital services of the Butte County Public Safety Scanner has created an incredible set of resources for the people of Butte County. No other county in California, and perhaps the country, has such a wide range of fire safety services offered to the community free of charge. We encourage you to visit our website at http://www.thenet411.net and take advantage of the resources and programs offered to the residents of Butte County to keep your homes and families safe from wildfire. There you will find everything from evacuation plans and fire safe landscaping ideas to free or discounted services such as our resident's assistance program and our record breaking chipper service. "Who are the people behind the Butte County Public Safety Scanner?"
Calli-Jane DeAnda, Executive Director, Butte County Fire Safe Council -
As the director of the BCFSC, she is responsible for everything you see here and a whole lot more that you do not see. From writing grants to organizing fire safety projects to keeping the chat room moderators inline, she is the one who believed that the valuable services of the Butte County Public Safety Scanner should stay online. Valerie Glass, Assistant Director, Butte County Fire Safe Council -
When the Butte County Public Safety Scanner needs something, Valerie is the one we turn to. She has lovingly tolerated our bizarre technology and logistics requests from day 1 of our partnership and we adore her for it. Margarete Taylor, Chat Room Supervisor, Volunteer
A native of Germany, Margarete is the backbone of our online operations. Since 2008, Margarete has tirelessly listened to thousands and thousands of hours of scanner traffic to keep the people of Butte County informed in the event of a wildfire. She is almost always available in our chat room to answer your questions and keeps netbot, Facebook, and Twitter updated during incidents. Tom Walker, Chat Room Moderator, Volunteer
Captain Walker comes to us after a long career as a Captain for Cal Fire. He has been with us since 2010 and has done amazing things such as boosting our scanner reception and improving the management of our scanners to provide a better scanner listening experience. Be sure to come on by our chat room and say "Hi!" now and again. Our volunteers listen to the scanner as often as possible and publish information about incidents as often as they can. If you have free time on your hands and can help us out, please let us know by visiting our website and contacting us here: http://www.thenet411.net/index.php/contact
