The ARES E-Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
October 6, 2010
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
==> THE VIEW FROM FLAGLER COUNTY
Flagler County Emergency Services, the governmental agency responsible
for the management of the large county EOC, has elected to change the
way it coordinates with volunteer groups, including several emergency
communications groups. ARESŪ will be incorporated under this new
structure. Instead of having volunteer communicators and operators
serve the EOC via liaison with leaders of the volunteer groups,
emergency management will now seek to manage the volunteers directly by
having each volunteer apply for and be trained for specific duties
under the direct supervision of EM officials.
From the EM Web site: "Without trained and organized volunteers
government cannot properly respond to or recover from the impacts of
large disasters. Flagler County Emergency Management is accepting
applications for volunteers under the Division's new volunteer program.
The Flagler Emergency Management Volunteer (FEMV)
organization will be
open to all residents of Flagler County. All volunteers in this
organization will be trained, issued uniform shirts and an
identification badge. FEMV members will be under the direction of
Flagler County Emergency Management . . . for preparedness, response,
recovery and mitigation efforts. Volunteers who have previously
provided services to Flagler County, whether direct or through a
volunteer agency, are requested to complete an application immediately.
Recruitment and training dates will be posted . . ."
Our job as ARESŪ operators in the county is to continue to support the
EOC to the best of our abilities and training, under the new management
approach. There is, of course, the continuing role of our EC Robbie
Creal, KG4HUF, to provide internal leadership, recruitment and training
for our ARESŪ organization.
______
Early indications are that the massive communications support effort
for this past weekend's major MS-150 event here in northeastern Florida
was a huge success, according to EC KG4HUF. More on the effort in next
month's issue.
___________
In This Issue:
IN THIS ISSUE
- The View from Flagler County
- ARESŪ Digest
- ARRL Introduces First Challenge Coin
- Major New Northern Florida Plan Unveiled
- Junior ARESŪ Program in Florida
- Idea: Neighborhood HamWatch Program
- Letters
- K1CE For a Final
___________
==> ARESŪ DIGEST
Congratulations to Douglas County (Oregon) EC Jerry Eifert, AE7ER, of
Roseburg, who has won the Oregon Volunteer of the Year Award. A fine
newspaper article tells the story here
.
2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season
With nine tropical storms and four hurricanes, the 2010 season has been
a busy one. Beginning with Hurricane Alex in June, hams at WX4NHC
-- the Amateur Radio station at the
National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida -- and weather spotters
around the country have kept an eye on these storms. Hurricane Earl
came in late August and early September, Hurricane Karl in September
and then Hurricane Igor made its way across the Canadian Maritimes. The
2010 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 and will
continue through November 30. Read more here
.
- ARRL Letter, September 23, 2010 issue
Southeast Plans Major SET Effort
For two years in a row, Alabama has finished fourth in the country out
of 52 participating sections in the annual ARRL Simulated Emergency
Test (SET)
.
Jefferson County alone scored 555 points in 2009, placing the county in
fourth place in the country out of 330 county/local level participating
groups. Jefferson County's score alone was higher than the scores of 27
states/sections. However, despite Calhoun and Jefferson counties both
scoring over 500 points in 2009, Alabama's total fell by over 900
points. This appears to be due to fewer groups participating (14 in
2008, 12 in 2009) and lower scores (11 groups scored 168 or higher in
2008, only five scored 168 or higher in 2009).
So Jefferson County EC Hub Harvey, N4HUB is asking his
operators "what are you doing to be ready, resilient and responsive"?
His organization plans to participate with Shelby County as a partner
this year in a "Metropolitan SET." They will activate several served
agency stations and are asking nine Jefferson County hospitals with
Amateur Radio equipment to participate.
This year's SET will be like no other: The Alabama, Northern Florida
and Georgia Sections are all participating together in an exercise
dubbed "Hurricane Jay." The Alabama State EMA will be participating,
with EC Les Rayburn, N1LF, activating the State EOC. Jefferson, Shelby,
Talladega, and Calhoun counties are all on board with plans for this
year's SET. Harvey asks, "can we be number ONE in more than just
football this year"? -- Hub Harvey, N4HUB , Alabama
Emergency Manager, Jefferson County ARESŪ Emergency Coordinator [Harvey
was recently awarded Advanced Level Professional Certification by the
Alabama Association of Emergency Managers - ed.]
==> ARRL INTRODUCES FIRST CHALLENGE COIN
This month, ARRL and the Amateur Radio community celebrate the 75th
anniversary of ARESŪ. To help commemorate this milestone, ARRL has
introduced an anniversary Challenge Coin. The die-struck, one and one
half inch brass coin depicts, on one side, the ARESŪ 75th anniversary
logo in gold with red, white and blue color fill. The other side of the
coin includes the ARRL diamond logo against a hemisphere of the world.
"Around the perimeter of the ARESŪ logo are the words READY, RESILIENT
and RESPONSIVE," said Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Mike
Corey, W5MPC. "These words represent the critical need that ARESŪ
activities have provided, and will continue to provide into the future.
The Challenge Coin honors the service of ARESŪ volunteers and all
Amateur Radio operators that respond to the call of public service. We
hope ARESŪ volunteers will enjoy the honor of having the first
Challenge Coin issued by ARRL", said Corey.
While there are many stories about the origin and history of
challenge coins , these
medals have been popular with organizations and leagues for decades.
Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R added, "Challenge Coins are
probably most common among the military and civil service
organizations. These mementos are often used to commemorate a special
occasion or to show loyalty among individuals that share pride and
affinity for a particular service or agency. The coins are even popular
among police, fire and EMS officials." The coin is struck with the
year-of-issue, which in this case is 2010. Five diamond shapes on the
coin's head signify the five ARRL pillars: public service, advocacy,
education, technology and membership. "We hope this is the first of a
series of Challenge Coins for ARRL," said Inderbitzen. The ARESŪ 75th
Anniversary Challenge Coin, as well as commemorative t-shirts and mugs,
are available directly from ARRL
http://www.arrl.org/shop/Emergency-Communications/
.
==> MAJOR NEW NORTHERN FLORIDA PLAN UNVEILED
A Herculean effort by a panel of leading Florida radio amateurs has
resulted in a new emcomm plan for the large and disaster-prone ARRL
Northern Florida section. The new plan was announced by Section Manager
Paul Eakin, KJ4G, reflecting changes in emergency management and radio
communications over the course of the past few years.
The major change is that the new plan is centered on NIMS
ICS
protocols. It refers to
a section-wide ARESŪ data base that meets the requirements of the
section's major served agency: the Florida State EOC
at Tallahassee.
The data base includes records of NIMS, ICS and ARRL course
certifications, FCC addresses, resource typing for filling deployment
assignments, contact information for next of kin, and limited medical
data. (More on the data base below).
As an example of standardization, plan co-author David Miner, W4SKG,
the Assistant DEC of the Capital District, reworked the Incident
Command System message form ICS 213
to
incorporate the ARRL Radiogram format. "The Northern Florida Section is
adapting this form as our official message form," said Eakin. "The
Florida State EOC has stated that all traffic coming into and going out
of the facility will be required to have a contact person, authority
notation and phone number to be accepted as valid." "This is for
tracking purposes; our new integrated form has provisions for phone
numbers and authority positions," Eakin said.
The Plan
The new Northern Florida ARESŪ Emergency Communications Plan
(download at
bottom of page) serves the local Emergency Manager and the local
community Amateur Radio operator to promote relationships that will
best serve the emergency communication needs of their communities under
the ARESŪ banner. The plan has two purposes: The first is to provide
professional Emergency Managers with an understanding of who, what, and
how Amateur Radio volunteers can assist in the emergency communications
function. The second is to provide a systematic method for Amateur
Radio operators to voluntarily deliver supplemental radio communication
services when requested by local, state and national-level Emergency
Managers. The plan provides Amateur Radio operators with a consistent,
effective and scalable communications response framework under the
ARESŪ program.
The plan recognizes that the National Incident Management System
(NIMS) is the
national standard that promotes interoperability among the various
disciplines and agencies. ARESŪ members are expected to have an
Incident Command and management organization that emergency managers
and responders in the field can easily recognize and work with. In
emergency situations, the ARESŪ organization serves that purpose by
having various section officers and appointees assume emergency
response duties. Each local ARESŪ (city or county) should consider
adopting an emergency organization structure that conforms to the NIMS
standard also.
The plan delineates different levels of response: Local (city or
county) level; State level; and National level. To facilitate
responses, the Northern Florida section maintains the Northern Florida
ARESŪ Data Base (NFLDB)
of Amateur Radio operators who have registered to serve at the state
level in times of communication emergencies. The data base contains a
formal record of each volunteer's demonstrated radio communication
performance capabilities, education courses successfully completed, and
stated personal deployment requirements so that assignment of
individual operators to emergency deployment missions can be made. When
state level requests for services are received by the Section, this
data base will be the only repository from which deployment selections
will be made.
Activation Levels
As for levels of activation, "No Alert" is the normal situation for
Amateur Radio communications: No state of alert or emergency exists.
When a situation arises, affected ECs and DECs may declare any of three
levels of alert of their organization. Level III is the "monitoring
phase" and alerts operators in a specified area or functional unit
(such as a net) that their services may be needed on short notice in
the next 24-48 hours.
Level II is a "partial activation" and constitutes an operational
status.
Level I is the highest possible level of alert in an emergency
communications operation. It is useful for controlling HF circuits when
heavy traffic and large numbers of stations may increase channel load
on nets.
When distress traffic is being handled on any emergency net or
frequency, the activated level is automatically Level I and remains so
until all distress traffic has been cleared.
"Full Scale Activation" can be declared at the Section level only by
the SM, by issuance of a Priority bulletin to be transmitted on all
active net frequencies. It applies solely to nets and geographic areas
designated in the formal order.
The "Stand Down Phase" authorizes DECs and ECs to begin the stand-down
process of the activation. Stand Down is permissive only; it does not
require that operations be shut down in the specified area. It simply
advises the designated DECs and/or ECs that no apparent reasons exist
for continuing operation unless they have local requirements.
Any portion of the Section Plan can be activated in support of any
incident in the State of Florida and/or whenever the FEOC is activated,
and specifically when mid-state relay is necessary to support operators
in other ARRL sections requiring relay to/from the FEOC.
Net Operations
The plan calls for use of both the NTS standard ARRL message format and
the ICS-213, as they are similar in purpose, but remain different in
structure. Emergency Management and EOC personnel are going to be using
the ICS-213 format, but messages received from other sources will
likely be in the standard ARRL format, unfamiliar to Emergency
Management officials. The ARESŪ operator should place the
ARRL-formatted message into the body section of the ICS-213 before
delivering it. Thus the ARRL message remains intact, and the Emergency
Management official has a document he understands. Using these
procedures will enable the uninterrupted flow of message traffic, and
the messages will be in a format familiar to the users and recipients.
State EOC Messages Protocol
The Florida State EOC accepts any and all messages from any source.
However, its staff prefers an Amateur Radio liaison of only one
licensee, regardless of where in the state an incident might occur. For
practical purposes, the contact person is the Northern Florida Section
Manager or his/her designate.
Amateur Radio operators will be deployed to the FEOC only upon the
EOC's request, and these amateurs will be trained by the FEOC, the STM
and the Capital DEC.
Given the size of Florida and the fact there are three ARRL Sections
within the state, there are times when an incident might occur and not
impact the Northern Florida Section. In such cases, the Florida EOC
will need to establish amateur communications with the Section where
the incident is located, and the Northern Florida Section will need to
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* Origin: The home of the Emergcom echo (1:116/901)
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