Emergency Communications and ARES

1
Emergency Communications and ARES
Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club Union City, TN
December 7, 2004

• Presented by James C. Hall, MD WB4YDL

2
Tennessee ARES Structure
Larry Marshall WB4NCW SM
Sheila Talent KB4G SEC
Ken AF4ZR West TN ASEC
Tom K1KY Middle TN ASEC
Mark AG4OA East TN ASEC
3
Tennessee ARES Structure
Ken AF4ZR West TN ASEC
Gary W4GT District 2 DEC
Randy WB4LHD District 1 DEC
Dave K4WWV District 3 DEC
4
Tennessee ARES Structure
Gary W4GT District 2 DEC
District 2 ECs Carroll David KE4VJC Dyer /
Lake Ed KE4UJP Gibson Greg KD4UJT Henry
Jeffrey W4JPG Obion Jamie WB4YDL Weakley
Alan KA4BNI
5
Amateur Radio Emergency Organizations

• ARES Amateur Radio Emergency
  Service
• RACES Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
• Skywarn

6
ARES Membership

• Purpose
• Organize amateur communications response during a
  disaster or crisis.
• Requirements
• ARRL membership not required
• Not necessary to spend money
• Dont have to spend a lot of time just dedicate
  your spare time.

7
Liaison with Served Agencies

• ARRL has MOUs with the following
• American Red Cross
• National Weather Service
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• Assoc. of Public-Safety Communications Officials
  (APCO)
• National Communications System

8
Served Agencies (cont)

• National Assoc. of Radio and Telecommunications
  Engineers
• Salvation Army
• Society of Broadcast Engineers
• Radio Emergency Associated Communications Teams
  (REACT)

9
National Disaster Medical System

• ARRL has no formal agreement, but lends informal
  support to its operations usually at section
  level
• Purpose is to establish single national medical
  response capability
• Disaster Medical Assistance Team
• Evacuation capability
• Voluntary hospital network

10
Community Response

• Community Emergency Response Team CERT
• ARES/RACES contribute to community response
  during a disaster
• CERT training available by FEMA and by
  local/regional emergency organizations
• Training includes fire safety, hazardous
  materials and terrorist incidents, disaster
  medical operations and search and rescue.

11
Communications Emergency

• A communications emergency exists when a critical
  communications system failure puts the public at
  risk.
• Examples
• storm knocks out telephone lines or radio towers.
• massive increase in use of a communications
  system that causes it to overload
• Failure of key component in a system that has
  widespread consequences i.e. 911 failure

12
Emcomm Volunteer

• Wide variety of backgrounds, experience and skill
  levels
• Common attributes
• desire to help others without personal gain
• work as member of a team
• take direction from others

13
How Do You Fit In ?

• Amateur Radio Operators are communications
  commandos
• Hams have the ability to rapidly enlarge their
  communications capacity to meet growing needs in
  an emergency something commercial and public
  safety systems can not do.

14
How Do You Fit In ?

• Many of the skills are the same ones used in
  daily ham activities.
• Other skills are specific to emergency
  communications and must be learned. Without these
  skills, you could easily become part of the
  problem.

15
Day-to-Day vs. Emergency Communication

• Emergency communications involve both amateur and
  non-amateur operators.
• Emergency operations happen in real time.
• Emergency communicators often deal with several
  continuous nets simultaneously to pass critical
  messages within a limited timeframe.
• Emergency communicators are often asked to
  organize and coordinate field operations with
  little or no warning.
• Emergency communicators may need to interact with
  several key organizations simultaneously.

16
Day-to-Day vs. Emergency Communication

• Emergency stations must be portable.
• Emergency communicators contact specific stations
  quickly.
• Emergency operations have no schedule.
• Amateur radio emergency communicators have the
  equipment, skills, and knowledge to create
  additional capacity in a very short time.

17
Anatomy of a Communications Emergency

• Early Phase no immediate need for emergency
  communications
• - watch or warning periods monitor
  developments, prepare to deploy if a request for
  assistance comes.
• Served agency puts out call for volunteer
  communicators.
• - EOC (emergency operations center), field
  locations, or both.

18
Anatomy of a Communications Emergency

• Rapid Response Teams (RRT)
• - small sub-group deploys minimal response in
  a very short time.
• - backed up by more robust response in an
  hour or two.
• Resource Net
• - Set up to handle incoming communications
  volunteers and direct resources where they are
  most needed.
• - Volunteers not assigned to a task check in
  and monitor the net.

19
Anatomy of a Communications Emergency

• Operations depends on the agency served and the
  circumstances.
• - staffing shelters to handle calls for
  information, supplies, and personnel.
• - collecting and transmitting damage reports.
• - pass health welfare inquiries to / from
  refugee centers.
• - logistical needs of the served agency
  (supplies, equipment, personnel).

20
Anatomy of a Communications Emergency

• Over time, the need for emergency communications
  networks will diminish and eventually the
  networks will be dismantled and closed.
• The emergency communicators group should then
  review the effectiveness of its response soon
  after operations are closed.

21
A Day of Infamy

• Original radiogram sent by Commander in Chief of
  Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC)