Are Today's Hams Ready To Handle Emergencies?

Thank you

very well put in deed to the letter

signed Guy
kc2ayg

 

I agree with the original point N2NOV makes about training - I want to get people who are in RACES to know about incident command, basic behavior around a bio/chemical hazard, evidence protection, etc. If the county is going to issue us ID's to cross police lines, we'd better know how to behave "professionally" once we're in there. I know the ARES EC from a large county an hour away gets the same spiel N2NOV gets - hams cant' be bothered to drill, but they'll be there for the "big" one. The problem is, if you don't know what the group does, your usefulness is limited. I monitored a real disaster in another county near us, and constant air time was used to solicit, position, and educate the operators. I don't know if a station with emergency traffic could have gotten air time in the first two hours. They needed a "Net 2" for traffic.
My county has a fairly small population (53,000 in 1980), so there isn't a large amateur base. There was historic RACES activity, but none in the 20 years before Y2K. If people are willing to volunteer, we will use them. I have 23 people who have bothered to fill out a one-page RACES application; of those, 6 are totally inactive, and 6 live outaide the county. I have to select assignments based on a person's experience, so that Amateur Radio helps, instead of getting in the way.
As far as Dennis's experience, no one should be treated that way. There is always a problem at any disaster with 'freelancers' dispatching themselves into areas they aren't qualified for, or are not needed, or outside their area of authorithy. We can be sure 9-11 was no exception. But his group responded through channels, and he should have been recognized and used. And people should find a way to be polite, even if they have to be firm with those that get in the way.

I want to talk about the attitude we as hams bring to an event. We should bring our experience, as well as our equipment, so that communications takes place in the "best, fastest way." There was an excellent column to this extent in QST a couple of years ago. If you brought your Amateur Radio experience to New York, and they hand you a Nextel, so what? I know they shouldn't have asked hams to schlep their equipment in if they KNEW it wouldn't be used. But the Nextels worked, and are 99.99% secure. Even though you can't demonstrate your radio to the officials, you can demonstrate what a skilled Amateur Radio Operator can do.
At one recurring fund-raiser near here, the Police solicit dozens of hams for radio operators, then hand them business band radios for the net. They want the experience, not the frequency coverage. Some hams won't participate because it's "not ham radio." I understand that, but don't show up at an emergency here with that chip on your shoulder. We need to make ham radio fit the emergency, not make the emergency fit ham radio. We need help, not "education" (attitude).
I have heard stories of the abuses, the folding and counting blankets scenario, and when this takes people away from an active radio net, it shouldn't happen. But not everyone has unlimited staff, and if there are extra ham volunteers at a communications site, and one is asked to answer the phone or make a few copies, this is part of overall communicating, and shouldn't be the end of the world. One nearby county has a problem with floods, and hams are trained to read and report the river level. The reading levels part "isn't ham radio," but no one complains.
My county Emergency Management Office has one paid employee. He is paid roughly three days a week as Emergency Management Director, and two as EMS Director. He is also a volunteer Fire Chief. He had a shared secretary, but she left the county last year and hasn't been replaced. He has a volunteer deputy director, five EMS coordinators, and six Emergency Management coordinators. Of the 12 volunteers, there are at least 3 paramedics, probably 7 EMT's at least 6 past or present Fire Chiefs, an Ambulance Corps Captain, and two other firefighters. If the Director has a paper for the county board chairman that needs to be copied, an available extra ham operator should do it cheerfully. We all do what we have to to get the job done. After all, we make up 2/3 of his staff! Who else is going to do it?

 

Thomas R. Wright, W4TRW wrote:

"After reading the articles and comments on the ham operators being ready for emergencies I had the unexpected opportunity to talk with a member of a DMAT team that, among other things, coordinates emergency communications during disasters. These people are members of a group that trains regularly and specifically for emergencies. As I understand it, they have special equipment and utilize special frequencies."

Yesterday at our semiannual NJSP OEM RACES Symposium, we had a presentation on Disaster Medical Assistance Teams given by Mike Mutascio, KC2GMM who is the comm officer for the DMAT team based in our state. It was an interesting talk.

DMAT teams are there to help support the medical aspects of a major disaster and do come with extensive communications equipment to support their function. In that regard ther better prepared than most other public safety organizations, who normally have comms designed for day to day operations. Since DMAT's know they only operate in disasters, their comm capabilities are much better. This includes amateur capability to link into the ARES/RACES nets operating in the area.

But there are a lot more functions than health services in a disaster, so they obviously won't be replacing ARES or RACES. In fact, without ARES or RACES how would they know to come in the first place?

73

Gary Wilson, K2GW
SNJ SEC