As an ARES EC overseeing two counties, I see both sides of this equation. I have very little support from either county Emergency Manager and next to nothing for formal training opportunities. Besides being an ARES EC, I work in the communications field, and I know how things are supposed to be done and what public safety expects. I wish that I could get a highly dedicated core of well trained operators, skilled in seach and rescue, Disaster assessment, and communications protocals. Having that would make my life so much easier. Instead I have a few good operators, and alot of "rag chewers." I find myself sometimes teaching on the fly and using "warm bodies" to fill roles. I find myself sometimes having to make personal judgements about people and the image they present. I have also made the decision not to support an group/agency becasue I could not staff it with enough qualified people. In most situtaions if you cannot do it well, your best off not doing it at all.
ARES Wackers!
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Let me interject some background information.
For years, ARES in the Tulsa area didn't have much structure or training. Mostly, the EC's would issue ID cards or organize a SET drill and not much else. Training consisted mostly of checking into nets and working public service events.
Someone under the direction of the Tulsa EOC organized a regional hospital net for the Y2K situation. The Hospital Net saw a couple of real activations due to communications outages in Tulsa, but activity with the net slacked off for a few years.
In the 2001 terroists attacks, the NYC Red Cross tried to contact the Tulsa Red Cross by HF. They made contact with a local ham, Larry Newman, NF5M, instead. He went to the Tulsa Red Cross and tried to tell them that NYC wanted them to activate their ham station, and he was willing to operate it. They turned him away, but later, one of their officers attended a TARC meeting to apolgize for the misunderstanding. I was at that meetining.
After that, the TRO tried to assemble a team of hams to operate the Tulsa Red Cross ham station, but not much was done until I became the Activities Chair for the TRO.
Then Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I wound up recruiting and scheduling HF operators to run the Red Cross station for the first week after the storm hit. I also recruited the first hams to go to the shelter at Camp Gruber.
The experience with Katrina showed that what we had done in the past was not always going to be enough. Hams have always had a way of improvising solutions on the spot to get radios on the air during emergencies and disasters. But we won't always have the time to do that in the future. We need to show up with solutions in hand and have training that allows us to implement those solutions and take our place as communicators in the ICS.
Are we there yet? No, but we're working on it. We have more of a leadership structure than what we had before. It's not just in the Tulsa area, it's statewide. Sure, we have spots that need to be filled, and we have more work to do. With new hams coming in, and older hams leaving the system, the work will never really end. All we can do is the best we can do.
For years, ARES in the Tulsa area didn't have much structure or training. Mostly, the EC's would issue ID cards or organize a SET drill and not much else. Training consisted mostly of checking into nets and working public service events.
Someone under the direction of the Tulsa EOC organized a regional hospital net for the Y2K situation. The Hospital Net saw a couple of real activations due to communications outages in Tulsa, but activity with the net slacked off for a few years.
In the 2001 terroists attacks, the NYC Red Cross tried to contact the Tulsa Red Cross by HF. They made contact with a local ham, Larry Newman, NF5M, instead. He went to the Tulsa Red Cross and tried to tell them that NYC wanted them to activate their ham station, and he was willing to operate it. They turned him away, but later, one of their officers attended a TARC meeting to apolgize for the misunderstanding. I was at that meetining.
After that, the TRO tried to assemble a team of hams to operate the Tulsa Red Cross ham station, but not much was done until I became the Activities Chair for the TRO.
Then Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I wound up recruiting and scheduling HF operators to run the Red Cross station for the first week after the storm hit. I also recruited the first hams to go to the shelter at Camp Gruber.
The experience with Katrina showed that what we had done in the past was not always going to be enough. Hams have always had a way of improvising solutions on the spot to get radios on the air during emergencies and disasters. But we won't always have the time to do that in the future. We need to show up with solutions in hand and have training that allows us to implement those solutions and take our place as communicators in the ICS.
Are we there yet? No, but we're working on it. We have more of a leadership structure than what we had before. It's not just in the Tulsa area, it's statewide. Sure, we have spots that need to be filled, and we have more work to do. With new hams coming in, and older hams leaving the system, the work will never really end. All we can do is the best we can do.
K5MAR
Member
Actually, using ARES volunteers is the American Red Cross's standard method for providing communications. There is in place a MOU between the ARC and the ARRL which sets out the basic terms for that cooperation. ARRL - American Red Cross Statement of Understanding I'm not going to quote it here, please go read it.car2back said:
In addition, there are in place MOUs with various other agencies and organizations, including the National Weather Service, The Salvation Army, and APCO International. Read more at this link.
I'm not saying Amateur Radio doesn't have it's share of posers and wanna-bes, but then so does any organization, both paid and volunteer. One of the biggest ones I have ever seen was a Stillwater PD officer who ran around with a scanner in his POV and jumped into several high-speed chases while off-duty and driving said POV.
What is annoying is the automatic assumption by several of this forum's members that any traffic they hear on an amateur repeater relating to disaster operations is going to be unauthorized activity by untrained and unwelcome buttinskis. As assistant E.C. for ARES in Payne County, I can tell you that the biggest problem I have is coming up with enough volunteers who are willing and able to assist in a disaster. I have already advised several groups that in a real emergency locally they should not count on having assistance from ARES, I simply don't have the people; and we are already committed to providing the local Red Cross chapter with whatever communications they need.
Unless and until somebody is willing to fund the purchase, installation, and maintence of a radio system for the Red Cross (and commercial systems are a whole lot more expensive than comparable amateur radio systems), Amateur Radio will continue to be the primary means of communication for many/most Red Cross chapters. That's the reality of the situation.
Mark S.
kc5klm
Member
Correction
BCFD25 said:
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OUAlumni
Member
Yikes - where went that ICS training.
The Communications Unit Leader (COML) was, in all likleihood, not you - or any other ham. The COML has responsibility for ALL incident-related communications, and this includes the organization of public safety communications and input thereof into the IAP. If you were responsible for this, I would be extremely surprised.
Chances are better that you were some sort of communications liasion within the Red Cross organization, which probably was neatly tucked into the logistics section of the larger ICS structure (if one existed) for the incident.
The Communications Unit Leader (COML) was, in all likleihood, not you - or any other ham. The COML has responsibility for ALL incident-related communications, and this includes the organization of public safety communications and input thereof into the IAP. If you were responsible for this, I would be extremely surprised.
Chances are better that you were some sort of communications liasion within the Red Cross organization, which probably was neatly tucked into the logistics section of the larger ICS structure (if one existed) for the incident.
Armchair Quarterbacks
Bravo and well said.
Like yourself I wasn't going to reply to this nonsense at first but credit needs it's due and this is my first post on this site.
Perhaps when these armchair quarterbacks become the actual victims with water up to their necks inside their own homes and when "they" wake up to find their furniture floating and strewn all over their front lawns loosing everything they own, then perhaps that will be the moment they will start understanding and appreciating what this is really all about.
Unless these armchair quarterbacks were actually there, they saw nothing and therefore they really have nothing to say about the subject or how things were conducted now do they?
The way I understand things is these were ordinary people helping other ordinary people. I am not even a member of ARES and even "I" with my limited mentality can understand that simple logic.
The whacker labeling antics belong on another website. These volunteers need to be recognized and commended for their efforts and not have their noses drove into the ground by individuals who weren't even there for the fine job they did helping these unfortunate victims of the flood. These whacker labeling antics is one of the primary reasons that discourage me from volunteering in ARES.
73 de Charles - KC8VWM
kc5klm said:
Bravo and well said.
Like yourself I wasn't going to reply to this nonsense at first but credit needs it's due and this is my first post on this site.
Perhaps when these armchair quarterbacks become the actual victims with water up to their necks inside their own homes and when "they" wake up to find their furniture floating and strewn all over their front lawns loosing everything they own, then perhaps that will be the moment they will start understanding and appreciating what this is really all about.
Unless these armchair quarterbacks were actually there, they saw nothing and therefore they really have nothing to say about the subject or how things were conducted now do they?
The way I understand things is these were ordinary people helping other ordinary people. I am not even a member of ARES and even "I" with my limited mentality can understand that simple logic.
The whacker labeling antics belong on another website. These volunteers need to be recognized and commended for their efforts and not have their noses drove into the ground by individuals who weren't even there for the fine job they did helping these unfortunate victims of the flood. These whacker labeling antics is one of the primary reasons that discourage me from volunteering in ARES.
73 de Charles - KC8VWM
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