Welcome to the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Website
|
Welcome to the Stark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Website |
| Stark County ARES Home Page |
 |
 |
|
|
Click on the button for current Stark County Weather !
|
|
Stark Co ARES Participate In EMA Exercise
Fulfilling a Federal guideline which requires a full scale disaster drill to be conducted every three years, Friday's drill once again provided a means for both area safety forces and amateur radio operators to practice for disaster and was observed by both Summit & Stark County Emergency Management Agencies and the Federal Aviation Administration. The elaborate scenario involved more than 500 participants, including more than 120 volunteers who pretended to be passengers and victims. The multi-county drill also tested the resources of both Stark and Summit County AREA organizations who provided twenty-four operators for the event. AMATEUR RADIO OPERATIONS COMMENCE Under the direction of District Emergency Coordinator James Miller - K8EIO, the call went out over the two Counties ARES Repeaters. Here in Stark County the call was received by Emergency Coordinator David Beltz - WD8AYE who had already been alerted by Stark County EMA Director Ed Cox. Thanks to a long history of cooperation with local public service officials and local EMA, Stark ARES began the call for operators to assist in the drill. Operators were needed to support transport buses for the victims, area hospitals that would be receiving the injured, local Red Cross Chapters and the Emergency Operations Centers of both Counties. Due to the sensitive nature of the exercise, it was also decided to staff the Regional Emergency Dispatch (RED) Center since calls from concerned citizens would be received at this office as well as the County 911 Center. The scenario called for the establishment of an alternate EOC site in Green Township located in close proximity to the disaster site. It was requested to setup amateur radio communications that would handle net control responsibilities for the entire event and where the situation could be monitored by public safety officials as well as event organizers. Amateur's First Obstacle - there is presently no equipment installed at this site. Radio's would have to be brought in and setup to operate on the multiple two meter and UHF frequencies that would be utilized during the event. Local ARES officials immediately reviewed their call up lists, detailed lists of equipment available and resources on short notice. Magnet mount antennas could probably be used thanks to the wide area coverage provided by the counties ARES Repeaters. Summit County has a UHF system that includes multiple receive inputs that would also help. The Massillon Amateur Radio Club's Emergency Communications Trailer was also put on standby status in case additional communications support was needed. The trailer can be put into operation on short notice and comes equipped with both HF and VHF equipment as well as commercial radio's should the need arise. As volunteers began checking in and offering their assistance another request came in, could amateurs provide a means to track metro bus movements in real time ? It had already been decided to staff each bus with a radio operator but what else could be done ? Summit County ARES has several self contained APRS stations available that could show real time positioning information via computer located at the EOC site. This would provide the tracking information requested and free up the radio operator for more critical traffic. Aside from providing support communications between the disaster site and the EOC, amateurs also were requested to staff five hospitals in Summit County and five in Stark County that would be receiving casualties. Thanks to established Skywarn relationships at many area hospitals, they already contain permanent amateur radio stations. Amateurs Second Obstacle - most school and commercial busses have aluminum bodies, not suitable for magnet mount antennas. Hand Held radios with only short rubber duck antennas have only limited range and even worse in a moving vehicle. A last minute improvise was securing the magnet mount antennas with the ever present duct tape. Not very pretty but it worked. In a real life situation, amateurs could be called upon to provide almost any type of communications assistance and have to be ready to setup what ever is needed, where ever it is needed. In this exercise, amateurs were called upon to handle support communications at the disaster site, at both EOC offices and at all area hospitals where victims would be transported. Armed with this information, ARES officials had dispatched radio operators to various locations. ARRL CERTIFICATION PAYS OFF Many times amateurs are called upon to "shadow" event coordinators and local public service officials both during practice drills and real life emergencies. These liaisons must be well trained, disciplined radio operators who can tactfully handle the often fragile relationships between amateurs and public safety forces. Our role and participation during these types of drills and situations isn't guaranteed, it must be earned through trust. Operators must know how to conduct themselves in these situations and be able to provide the detailed information requested quickly and on short notice. The ARRL Emergency Communications Certifications provide an excellent means for ARES members to gain the knowledge necessary to handle these types of assignments. This Certification plus participation in public service events help to produce first responders. The event continued throughout the remainder of the evening with amateurs providing event officials with constant updates on victim flow to area hospitals. This was primarily handled through our relationship with the Red Cross. In a real life situation, amateurs would assist Red Cross workers in victim condition and location to facilitate family notification. Amateur participation began at about 8:00 P.M. and concluded about 1:30 A.M. The event involved about twenty-four operators and totaled nearly sixty-four volunteer hours. WHAT WENT RIGHT ? Amateurs long standing relationships with area hospitals and most public safety forces again proved their worth as amateurs seamlessly handled their communications responsibilities throughout the event. Since 911, amateurs have been quietly assessing their capabilities and more importantly their limitations and have been upgrading their systems as well as their continued participation in public service exercises. We have learned over years of practice what works and what doesn't when unique communications needs are requested by public safety forces. WHAT WENT WRONG ? This exercise was only short duration. Getting operators wasn't too difficult. But what if the event would have continued throughout the night and into the next day ? Where would relief operators come from ? Even though most Metro Buses are communications equipped, they are not suitable for amateur operations. Aluminum bus bodies don't work with magnet mount antennas. We need some other type of antenna. Perhaps some type of J-Pole or clamp-on configuration. We need to have established amateur stations at all area hospitals, EOC's and any other critical area. Fully equipped stations if possible but if not at least some type of external antennas and universally adaptable source of 12 volt power. Here is where the PowerPole connector system could prove very valuable. CONCLUSION The major difference between a practice drill and a real life emergency is time to prepare. Even though the details of the drill weren't well known until the last day, we still had time to line up critical personnel, equipment needs, responsibilities, etc. In a real emergency we won't have this advanced notice. We will have to react quickly and efficiently. Our window of opportunity to assemble volunteers and resources will happen quickly and we count on out past experience during drills to make sure we provide the right type of assistance in support of any immediate or recovery efforts during the emergency. The primary planners for this exercise were Annette Petranic, Coordinator of the Summit County Emergency Management Agency and Ed Cox, Stark County EMA Director. Both wish to thank all volunteers for their assistance during this exercise. Dave Beltz, WD8AYE Stark County EC and Jim Miller, K8EIO District EC also express their appreciation for the volunteers efforts. The complete list is as follows. Terry Russ, N8ATZ - Summit County EOC Site, Don Finley, W8DEF - Metro Bus, Linda Finley, K8MOO - Green EOC, Jim Farriss, WA8GXM - Airport Site, Sam Marang, WA8YGR - Massillon Community Hospital, Ed Clinger, WA8DRT - Doctors Hospital, Dale Storey, KB8LWP - Mercy Medical Center, Cathy Storey, KC8EOC - Aultman Hospital, Jack Bennett, W8WEN - Alliance Community Hospital, Perry Ballinger, W8AU - Massillon RED Center, Saundy Becker, N8TZB - Massillon Western Section Red Cross, Bill Wade, KC8FLT - Canton Red Cross and Paul Burke, KB8VAS - Stark County EOC. Summit County ARES volunteers under the direction of DEC Jim Miller, K8EIO were, Joe Sheehan, KC8UFG - Red Cross/EMA Liaison, Ken Dorsey Jr., KA8OAD - APRS Station, Tim McLeod, WB8HFZ - 146.64 ARES Repeater Net Control, Phil Bresky, WB8AVD - Portable UHF Repeater System, Ted Wands, WD8CVH - Metro Bus, John Feist, KB8UAS - APRS Station, Lester Cutlip, KC8QPC - APRS Station, David Littell, KC8LNQ - Metro Bus and Michael Shea, KC8SUJ - Metro Bus. Pictures taken during the event are shown below. All pictures courtesy of Terry Russ - N8ATZ, Jim Miller - K8EIO and Jason Stroll - KC8LIN.
KB8UAS sets the APRS Units
APRS Units in place on Metro Bus
Terry - N8ATZ installs radio on Metro Bus
Ted - WD8CVH with event "Victims"
Terry - N8ATZ (L) Stark ARES and Ken - KA8OAD with APRS Station
The Green EOC Command Center. Pictured left to right are Joe - KC8UFG Red Cross/EMA Liaison, Jim - WA8GXM Stark ARES, Terry - N8ATZ on the Stark Co 147.12 ARES Repeater, Ken - KA8OED with the APRS Station and Tim - WB8HFZ on the Summit County 146.64 ARES Repeater.
This site is best viewed at 800 x 600 resolution using Internet Explorer
|
|
|
| last reviewed/updated on 05/16/03 |
|
ARES Info |
| | Calendar | | | Current News | | | Net Info. | | | Public Service | | | Skywarn | | | Training |
(May 16, 2003) -- Friday - May 9, 2003, the scene that played out on a
runway at Akron-Canton Regional Airport throughout the day and Friday night was
Director Fred Crum's worst nightmare. A Hostage. A plane crash. Mass casualties
and panic. Thankfully, it was all part of a well-planned drill involving both
Summit and Stark County area hospitals, emergency management agencies, more than
20 police and fire departments, and amateur radio operators.
