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WILDFIRE FIGHTING Fire center name change to help air-traffic safety Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted Jan. 28, 2016 at 3:27 PM Updated Jan 28, 2016 at 5:01 PM By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted Jan. 28, 2016 at 3:27 PM Updated Jan 28, 2016 at 5:01 PM » Social News Concerned about the potential for a midair collision caused by a radio mistake, federal wildland firefighting officials are changing the name of their Medford fire center and its radio dispatch call sign to avoid confusion with a similarly named state dispatch center. While there have been no near-collisions attributed to the potential confusion, officials say, there's been enough confusion among some pilots between the radio call signs of the state-operated "Medford Dispatch" and the federal "Medford Interagency Dispatch" to warrant the change. Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest officials say changing the name of the federal Medford Interagency Communications Center to the Rogue Valley Interagency Communications Center and changing the radio call sign to "Rogue Dispatch" could help keep those potential near-misses, or worse, from occurring. "It's not like we've had aircraft that almost collided in the air," says Eric Hensel, the forest's fire and aviation staff officer. "(But) if nobody knows you're up there, there's a chance you can crash into somebody. "Doing a name change right now is something we can do to alleviate the problem," Hensel adds. The name change will go into effect April 1, prior to the summer wildfire season, Forest Service spokeswoman Virginia Gibbons says. Oregon Department of Forestry officials say they are well aware of the occasional confusion that can cause pilots and dispatchers to momentarily lose track of each other in an often busy airspace during fire season. The name change will help, they say, especially for out-of-area pilots. "Those guys who fly around here every day figure it out real quickly," ODF spokesman Brian Ballou says. "They can figure it out by the voices of the dispatchers. The out-of-area guys can't. "Some of these air-tanker guys run around the entire West," Ballou says. "This will make it a little simpler for them in an already confusing environment." During fire season, federal and state air crews often are busy in the air at the same time and have to be aware of the locations of both their own and the other agencies' planes and helicopters. When, for instance, an aircraft under contract with the Forest Service flies out of national forestland and into airspace over state-protected lands, they contact ODF dispatchers to ensure no conflicts occur with other pilots and aircraft. Calling in to the wrong dispatch center, or taking orders from the wrong center, could hurt the ability to track aircraft properly to ensure no safety conflicts in the skies, Hensel says. The federal interagency center has used the call sign "Medford Interagency Dispatch" since 2008, but a safety and procedural review after last year's fire season put the name change at the top of the list of new safety precautions, according to the Forest Service. Having distinct call signs of "Medford Dispatch" and "Rogue Dispatch" should make that communication that much smoother, especially for out-of-town pilots, Hensel says. "Pilots have said, 'Hey, this is kind of confusing,' " Hensel says. "In light of that, we took it upon ourselves to change the name of our center to avoid any potential aviation conflicts." Southwest Oregon has had some of the busiest federal airspace for federal wildland firefighters, according to Forest Service statistics. The 630 hours of fixed-wing flight time and about 10,000 hours of helicopter time in the region in 2015 accounted for about 10 percent of the national forest wildfire air time in Oregon, statistics show. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted Jan. 28, 2016 at 3:27 PM Updated Jan 28, 2016 at 5:01 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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