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Subj: ARES E-Letter November 3, 2010
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The ARES E-Letter November 3, 2010
Editor: Rick Palm, K1CE
The View from Flagler County
----------------------------
Last month's brief report on the new Flagler County Emergency Management
Volunteer (FEMV) program for volunteer involvement and control sparked a
number of responses. Here are two replies, representing the two poles on the
issue:
"County Emergency Management is taking direct control of volunteers because
many volunteer groups were not covering their members with insurance,
providing required training, and obtaining NIMS credentials for their
personnel. EM will be able to determine who occupies the management and crew
chief positions based on training, certification, exercise, qualifications,
and credentialing, under NIMS/ICS standards. In my opinion, Flagler County
Emergency Management is correct to resolve these issues by assuming more
control." - Michael J. Cryan, WD6ALM, Master Exercise Practitioner, Homeland
Security Exercise Evaluation Program; Communications Unit Leader, Incident
Command System
"Instead of having ARES volunteers under auspices of the ARES EC, Flagler
government will have a nice little group of unpaid employees. If you apply
to the county, the county trains you for specific duties, the county issues
you a uniform and a badge, and you work under direct supervision of county
officials, you are an employee. I'd call this bad precedent for ARES. There
may be an EC, but there is no ARES."-- Ed Humphries, N5RCK, EC, Cobb County,
Georgia
I met with the County's new Volunteer Coordinating Officer (VCO) Frank
Sanita, who is a radio amateur (AA4FS), at the Flagler EOC last Friday. The
VCO is assigned to the EOC to coordinate all volunteers during standby,
training, exercises, and activations under the new program. He reports
directly to the Emergency Management Chief. Under the program, volunteers
will be selected through an application process.
The EM is adopting rules on the recruitment, screening, training,
responsibility, use, and supervision of volunteers. Volunteers will be
trained for the jobs they will perform, including safety aspects, and
perform duties for which they are properly trained. Volunteers can be
terminated for cause.
When an emergency event occurs requiring the assistance of volunteers, the
VCO will contact volunteers for deployment based on skills, training, and
availability. At the time of activation notification, the VCO will provide
specific instructions to the volunteer on the time, place, task assignment,
special instructions, and any special equipment or attire that may be needed
for the assignment. Volunteers will report to ID and Badging immediately
upon arrival to the EOC. If reporting directly to the incident, volunteers
sign in immediately at their assigned staging area on ICS Form 211.
Volunteers working at the request of FCEM staff are eligible for Worker's
Compensation. Self-deployment and freelancing of volunteers is not
authorized. Volunteers are considered partners in implementing the mission
and programs of FCEM.
Mandatory training for all volunteers includes: IS-100.a (Introduction to
Incident Command System); IS-700.a (National Incident Management System --
An Introduction); and any future training courses required by FEMA in order
to maintain NIMS compliance.
After my hour long discussion with Sanita, I came away with the following:
First, the county's new volunteer program is not about ARES and
communications, solely. It applies to a panoply of volunteers - both groups
and individuals - across a wide range of emergency service functions, not
just radio communications. ARES and emergency communications are merely one
part of the whole, which includes call center work, casework/Social Service,
critical incident stress management, construction, donations, first
responder, food services, heavy lifting, logistics, medical services,
disabled/elderly special needs, transportation, animal needs, and so on. For
more, look at the various ESFs in the National Response Framework.
A major consideration in the county's new program, which was approved by the
county attorney and commissioners, was and is NIMS/ICS compliance. By having
an application and registration process, the county can ensure that each of
their volunteers has basic NIMS and ICS certs, and thus the county can pass
the related audits, which are coming from either the state or the feds. (Of
course, more importantly, is that the county EOC, which runs under NIMS/ICS
protocols, will have workers who understand these protocols, for the
efficacy of emergency operations in the field).
Secondly, it has been inefficient for the county EM to try to work with the
numerous volunteer groups on an individual MOU basis. The MOU documents had
to be drawn up on a case-by-case basis, revised and updated constantly, and
in many cases could not be agreed to by both parties. Group members would
self-deploy, cause problems and become liabilities to the EOC, instead of
assets in some cases. Also, an individual volunteer could be a member of
several groups, and when it came time to activate, confusion reigned when it
was unknown as to what group the volunteer would elect to report.
Thirdly, there were liability concerns - for the individual volunteer, the
volunteer groups, and the county. These could be ameliorated by having the
EOC assume direct control of volunteers who were working for them on
deployments. Before, there were no rules, limited controls, and almost a
wild west scenario. The new program is a benefit to the individual volunteer
in this regard, and the taxpayers of the county.
Also, a major concern for years in the ARES community has been the lack of
workers' compensation for operators hurt in the field. Under Flagler's new
emergency management volunteer program, workers' compensation may be
available.
The FEMV will function under the Department of Homeland Security's Citizen
Corps program of which ARRL is a program partner. ARRL is an affiliate under
the four charter Citizen Corps programs--Neighborhood Watch, Volunteers in
Police Service, Community Emergency Response Teams and Medical Reserve
Corps. See the Statement of Understanding. Thus, it is natural that the FEMV
is supported by our ARES group, which it does, according to Sanita and East
Coast District DEC Mike Lee, WB6RTH.
Another value of the FEMV program is rigorous Typing: Registered volunteers
are "typed" according to their commitments, qualifications, skills,
certifications, training and experience. The VCO can match the EOC's needs
for a particular situation to the volunteers' capabilities at the click of a
mouse. Our own ARES and Amateur Radio resource and personnel typing is still
in an embryonic stage nationwide, from what I have seen, and certainly
compared to the county's effort.
A goal of the FEMV is to keep the volunteer more active and engaged with the
EOC by direct interaction, cutting out the inefficiencies in having
intermediary entities or "middlemen."
As far as the specific function of communications, including radio
communications, a "Communications Department" has been established under the
FEMV program to draft protocols, and review and upgrade radio systems'
hardware and software, antennas, and so forth. This department will be
headed by a radio amateur. A review of the EOC Radio Room is currently
underway. The County Commissioners have also established the "County
Commission Committee on Communications" to exercise oversight and evaluate
the EOC's communications functions, and what the objectives of the county
should be.
A volunteer recognition program is part of the FEMV plan.
Sanita reports that the new FEMV program has already received the support of
the county's ARES leaders and members, along with members of county REACT
and CERT leaders and other groups. More than 65 volunteers have registered
so far, even before "going public" with the program, said Sanita. They seem
to like the idea that volunteering for the county emergency operations has
been simplified and that the EOC has consolidated its volunteer assets in
one data base for command and control, efficiency and efficacy.
In my opinion, the program is good for our ARES group. We will continue to
do what we have always done: train and certify, exercise and activate our
ARES members to provide the best possible support for the EOC, which is our
primary served agency. Our EC here will have a solid contact and liaison in
the VCO at the EOC. I am proud of the Flagler County ARES program - it has
come a long way in the past year with some superb new leadership. And we
will work hard to make the new FEMV program work for the county. Because it
is through this work that we provide the assistance so needed by the end
users in all of this: our neighbors and communities who are going through a
terrible ordeal in an emergency or disaster. We are not out there for
ourselves, we are out there for them. And the best way to fulfill this, is
to support our EOC 100%.
To answer some of the e-mail inquiries I received over the course of the
past month, while I do not have a crystal ball, I do see this as the future
environment for the relationship between ARES and local/county government
Emergency Management. Sanita told me he has had multiple inquiries from
other local governments around the country who would like to start similar
programs. We need to be on this bus, not underneath it. - K1CE
In This Issue:
The View from Flagler County
D-STAR Used To Send Airborne Pictures
IARU Region 2 Meets, Considers EmComm Issues and Events
2010 GAREC Convened in Curacao
ARES in Alaska
Arkansas SM Attends State's Interoperable Communications Conference
ARRL Partners News Roundup
IARU International EMCOMM News
Tips from ARES Tipster N5FDL
Letters
K1CE For a Final
D-STAR Used To Send Airborne Pictures
-------------------------------------
During the 2010 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) in Gwinnett County,
Georgia, ARES members tested sending photos from an airplane via D-STAR's
high speed data (DD mode) capability on 1.2 GHz. The test confirmed the
capability of taking pictures while airborne and sending them back in near
real time to a Web site for storage and viewing. File sizes for the photos
ranged from 75 KB to 250KB for medium resolution images. Transmission times
were in the 10 to 30 second timeframe. The plane, piloted by Paul Branson,
KA4YZR, was flown from Lawrenceville, Georgia to the east side of Athens,
Georgia about 50 miles away. Photos were taken along the way by Scott
Hartlage, KF4PWI, and sent back through the WD4STR D-STAR repeater. The
signal strength confirmed link calculations that reliable transmission could
occur out to at least 100 miles from the air.
Gwinnett ARES tested the concept to provide the capability to the Georgia
Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) for quick aerial surveys of disaster
areas and other immediate photo needs. The ICOM ID-1 radios aboard the
airplane send the photo files via 128 KB IP connection to any of the D-STAR
repeaters located around the state.
A statewide network of fully equipped D-STAR repeaters is being installed at
Georgia Public Broadcasting sites across Georgia. Multi-band antennas have
been installed on each of the tall television towers. Once fully operational
later this year, D-STAR voice and data communications will be available near
statewide for emergency communications. -- John A. Davis, WB4QDX, Emergency
Coordinator, Gwinnett (GA) ARES, District Emergency Coordinator
IARU Region 2 Meets, Considers EmComm Issues and Events
Delegates of IARU Region 2 (the Americas) met in El Salvador last month and
discussed regional emcomm issues and events. Vantroi Pe¤a, HI8VP, Secretary
of Radio Club Dominicano, graphically described the assistance to Haitian
earthquake relief work by amateurs of the Dominican Republic and how the
equipment provided by and through the ARRL was put to good use. Delegates of
Radio Club de Chile (RCCH) described the effects of the earthquake that
struck their country a few weeks later and the communications assistance
that radio amateurs were able to provide; they expressed gratitude to Region
2 for its financial support toward repairs to the RCCH club station. Chuy
L˘pez-Villalobos, XE2N, explained how amateurs in Mexico are using digital
modes in emergency preparedness. Delegates of LABRE, the national society
for Brazil, demonstrated a Web site where the exact location of Brazilian
amateur stations can be seen. On behalf of the Federaci˘n de
Radioaficionados de Cuba, Region 2 Director Pedro Rodriguez, CO2RP,
described the Caguair n homebrew transceiver project that is intended to
improve the emergency communications capabilities of Cuban amateurs. An ARRL
paper, "Amateur Radio Operators and Tropical Cyclone Events," was accepted
for publication on the Region 2 Web site in both English and Spanish; it
provides guidance for amateurs on how to prepare for hurricanes and typhoons.
2010 GAREC Convened in Curacao
------------------------------
The 2010 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (GAREC) Conference is
in the history books. It was held October 10-12 in Cura‡ao (PJ2). At the
time most conference attendees arrived in Cura‡ao, it was a part of the
Netherlands Antilles along with Bonaire, St Maarten, Saba, and St Eustatius.
By the time the attendees headed home, independence had been declared and
Cura‡ao was its own nation within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
GAREC is an annual conference attended by radio amateurs from around the
world who are involved in emergency communications. This year,
representatives from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, the United
Kingdom, Cuba, India, Japan, South Africa, the United States and Cura‡ao
took part. The ARRL was represented by ARRL Emergency Preparedness and
Response Manager Mike Corey, W5MPC.
Topics covered included the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, Amateur Radio
emergency communication organizations, how emergency messages are handled,
and how an emergency communications exercise is designed and organized.
Updates on emergency communications activities in each of the three IARU
regions were also given. Greg Mossup, G0DUB, had the attendees conduct a
table top exercise for a large scale international disaster.
At the end of the conference a statement paper was written and approved by
the representatives in attendance. This will be available soon on the GAREC
Web site.
GAREC has been held each year since 2005. The meeting location changes each
year and is rotated through each IARU region. The 2011 GAREC conference is
scheduled to be in Sun City, South Africa in August and will coincide with
the 2011 IARU Region 1 Conference. - Mike Corey, W5MPC, ARRL Emergency
Preparedness and Response Manager
ARES in Alaska
--------------
Amateur Radio emergency communications programs are alive and well in
Alaska. Operators have supported public events and emergency response
operations in Alaska for over 70 years. With three ARRL 50+ year affiliated
radio clubs and more than 3400 licensees throughout the state, Amateur Radio
has the ability to provide communication coverage over the entire state.
Alaska is twice the size of Texas, 413 times the size of Rhode Island and
yet has only one ARRL Section for the entire state to support activities and
emergency communications.
Each operator has a radio, their own power supply and a general knowledge of
emergency communications needed to provide emergency or priority
communications traffic compliant with the National Response Framework and
National Traffic System. Amateur Radio is a key component in the State of
Alaska Emergency Plan. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) of Alaska
provides auxiliary communications support for local governments, disaster
relief, and search and rescue groups during emergencies, as well as support
for various public service community events. ARES operates throughout Alaska
via several regions. In Anchorage, ARES meets on the third Saturday of each
month at 9:30 AM in the Carr-Gottstein building, Alaska Pacific University
campus. The Anchorage Emergency Coordinator is Heather Hasper, KL7SP. [I
traveled to a hamfest in Anchorage back in the 1990's, and can attest to the
vitality of the amateur community there. Hams there embrace a frontier
spirit of public service - K1CE]
Arkansas SM Attends State's Interoperable Communications Conference
Arkansas SM J.M. Rowe, N5XFW, attended the Arkansas Interoperable
Communications Conference (AICC), and the Volunteer Organizations Active in
Disasters (VOAD) meeting in one week recently. There were several workshops
and presentations at the AICC, and Rowe sat on a panel discussion of the
response to the Albert Pike Flood. The people involved in the discussion
were complimentary of the Amateur Radio community of operators - their
flexibility in problem solving, to serving as net controls, to joining a
search team that otherwise would not have had external communications.
The main topic of discussion at the VOAD meeting was the upcoming National
Level Exercise 2011 (NLE11), on the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Eight states in
four different FEMA Areas are participating. The scenario calls for a total
systems failure for at least the first 24 hours. It's scheduled for May
16-20, 2011. Face-to-face DEC meetings are scheduled for exercise-specific
planning; DECs and ECs will be receiving information from the SEC shortly.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management is interested in Amateur
Radio capabilities, especially in getting messages passed to and from local
authorities.
ARRL Partners News Roundup
--------------------------
American Red Cross - Click here for a weekly roundup of international Red
Cross disaster efforts.
The Salvation Army USA -- The Salvation Army clinic in Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, led by Dr. Danielle Prosper, is preparing to treat a possible influx
of cholera patients. More here.
APCO International - Offering a new on-line course on disaster operations
and the communications center here.
Citizen Corps -- Citizen Corps is FEMA's grassroots strategy to bring
together government and community leaders to involve citizens in all-hazards
emergency preparedness and resilience. Citizen Corps asks you to embrace the
personal responsibility to be prepared; to get training in first aid and
emergency skills; and to volunteer to support local emergency responders,
disaster relief, and community safety. There are currently 2,446 Councils
which serve 229,222,943 people or 80% of the total U.S. population. ARRL is
a Citizen Corps partner.
REACT International - Provides emergency communication training here.
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) -- Web users
increasingly rely on social media to seek help in a disaster. Report here.
IARU International EMCOMM News
------------------------------
Communication Support for Dual Disasters in Indonesia -- October 28, 2010.
Following two natural disasters, an earthquake triggered tsunami, and
separately an erupting volcano, radio amateurs are providing their help as
the enormous response effort continues. More here.
Thai Radio Amateurs Provide Emergency Help -- October 28, 2010. The worst
flooding in decades in part of Thailand caused by heavy monsoon rain over
the past two weeks has claimed at least 56 lives and affecting 940,000 homes
in 32 provinces. The Bangkok Post newspaper has reported that Amateur Radio
operators in Nakhon Ratchasima and Chaiyaphum are helping authorities
coordinate rescue. More here.
GlobalSET Nov 2010 English -- October 22, 2010. The IARU Region 1
organization is inviting the HQ stations of all IARU Member Societies (MS)
and the "Stations of Emergency Communications Groups" to participate in a
Global Simulated Emergency Test (GlobalSET) on Saturday, November 13th,
2010; from 1100 to 1500 Local Times. The objectives of the test are:
Increase the common interest in emergency communications; test how usable
the CoA (Center of Activity) frequencies are across ITU Regions; create
practice for international emergency communications and practice the
relaying of messages using all modes.
The IARU Region 2 HQ Station will be QRV at 1100 - 1500 local time on all
CoA frequencies of Region 2 : 3750 or 3895 kHz; 7060 kHz, 7240 kHz or 7290
kHz; 14300 kHz; 18160 kHz; and 21360 kHz.
Stations intending to participate are requested to register through their
IARU R2 Area/National Emergency Communications Coordinators. For more
information on the GlobalSET Rules, click here. Click here for a list of
Participating Stations.
Tips from ARES Tipster N5FDL
Two quick tips: The PDF version of the ARRL's ARES Field Resources Manual
(downloadable) looks really great on my iPhone. I also use a free/paid
service called Evernote to keep all my frequency lists, equipment manuals,
phone lists, ARES logo artwork, ICS forms, documents, etc., available
wherever I go. It works on smartphones, desktops, and portables, just like a
good cloud app should. I can email anything I am keeping in Evernote from
inside the program, which is cool. Need an ARES membership application? I
can send you one right now from my phone. -- David Coursey, N5FDL [check out
David's excellent news/blog site here. -- ed.]
Letters
-------
Northern Florida Plan: Too much?
In last month's issue, you gave us quite a description of the Northern
Florida Emergency Plan with all of its grand plans and requirements. I have
been an Amateur Radio operator since 1970, and have handled emergency
traffic when needed in our local area. I was the local Civil Defense Radio
Officer. I have ICS and NIMS training, including IS-100, IS-200, and IS-700,
so I am familiar with the system and its design and intentions. My
impression is that the Northern Florida communications plan is only for
those amateurs who can devote all of their time to training and exercises,
and are willing and able to spend whatever is "required" for training and
operational readiness. If the ARRL or ARES succeeds in getting this level of
requirement in effect over the rest of the country, I can see many amateurs
dropping out of the ARES side of the hobby. -- John R. Hartmus II, WB8GRX,
Frankfort, Ohio
Clear and Present Threat Alerts
The FBI's Infragard program is a citizen training program to promote
awareness of the threats we face and how to recognize, document and report
them. Even small suspicious activity may be part of a larger scheme that
Fusion Centers around the US can investigate, "connect the dots," and
disrupt. -- Robert Berman, W4SET, FBI Infragard, Hixson, Tennessee
ICS-213 Message Form Meld
Was the intent of the statements about the ICS-213 in the last issue to have
the ADDRESS, TEXT, and SIGNATURE portions of the Radiogram form put into the
Message field of the ICS-213? Inserting the PREAMBLE into the ICS 213 will
confuse our served agency members. A procedure for dealing with the ICS-213
should be in the ARRL Level One Emcomm course. The new Army MARS Basic
Training Course has such a procedure. How about the ARRL issuing the ICS-213
equivalent of FSD-218? -- Steve Schroder, KI0KY/AAR8AQ, Hotchkiss, Colorado
[Here is a sample (from Yolo County, California ARES) of what the field is
drafting for NIMS compliant message forms - ed.]
K1CE For a Final
----------------
Following the MS-150 communications support effort here last month, a
debriefing was held for participating operators. It was a no-holds-barred
critique and review of the event, with the objective of improving group and
individual performance for future events - whether planned, or otherwise.
The after-action review followed some good protocols that should apply to
all such reviews, and are especially timely as ARES groups wind down from
their annual SETs held this Fall.
No-Fault Review - there is no criticism of individuals, only of process,
methods or procedures. We are not here to bash others, but to grow as a team.
For each criticism, there should be a recommendation - constructiveness is
the name of the game.
Focus on what was done right, and how we can further leverage that going
forward - maybe even take best practices in one area and replicate them in
others.
What more we should do in the future? Did you find things that might have
been missed opportunities this year that we should consider for future events?
What should we abandon (if any) for future events? - These would be
low-value tasks that we might have been asked to perform, but which didn't
really need to be done (in retrospect).
Once the review is completed, the results will be published for all who
participated, and will be posted on-line for the public on how radio
amateurs performed, what they learned and how they intend to improve for the
future.
See you next month! 73, Rick K1CE
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