As part of the annual Simulated Emergency Test, the Benicia Amateur Radio Club participated in National Preparedness month on Sept 12, 2009, side by side the Benicia Emergency Response Team, (BERT) the city of Benicia’s CERT organization. Neither wind nor rain nor dark of morn could deter participants as a rare September rain storm hit the Bay Area. The drill conducted at the Benicia Fire Museum, centered on a BERT emergency medicine and triage training exercise and was replete with nine members of the high school drama club moulaged up with some rather serious injuries. BERT teams conducted the medical side of the drill under the guidance of Benicia trauma surgeon Dr. Carolyn Lobo, KI6HWI while Amateur Radio Operators under the guidance of Len Corbaley, KB6EOC station manager, provided communications between the disaster scene and a simulated EOC set up at City Hall. Hams deployed their new Go-Kit at the City Hall site and operating as KB6EOC, Benicia Command, conducted the full event off of portable equipment without the use of commercial power. Traffic consisted of damage assessment updates but primarily focused on medical summaries and vital victim information needed by simulated disaster managers.

A total of approximately 60 people participated.

Participating either as BERT team members or communicators were the following Amateur Radio Operators:
Dave Beemon, KG6SYR
Dr. Carolyn Lobo, KG6HWI
Virginia Schaefer, WA6DOV
Marion McKown, KG6SYM
Jean Colomy, KG6SYJ
Dr. Constance Beutel, KI6AZV
Len Corbaley, W6LHC
Gerry Patten, W6AET
Richard Gaul, K2GMY
Sue Mayoff, WA6AGP
Larry Loomer, KI6LMB
Art Mayoff, AB6HB

A video of the BERT side of the drill is available on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20v54v4A2hk

Please contact Mike Pompa, KP6MP, directly at mpompa@inbox.com if interested in supporting the following event:

The Cruella Challenge Century bicycling ride is asking for communications support on Saturday, October 24. The main route travels around Mt Diablo, going through Concord, Pleasant Hill, Lafayette, Orinda, the 3 bears, Berkeley, Oakland, Moraga, Alamo and Danville.

I’ve just agreed to coordinate communications, and I expect the jobs to be similar. Logistics will be simpler - only 2 routes. Start/finish will be at Oak Hill Park in Danville.

Looking for net control, SAG drivers, aid station comm and shadows. You know the story. If you can’t work the full day, but can do half, I’ll work it out.

This event is just 2 months away, so let me know ASAP.

Mike KB6MP

September is National Preparedness Month (NPM) and it is right around the corner. NPM is sponsored by FEMA’s Ready Campaign in partnership with Citizen Corps and the Advertising Council and is designed to encourage Americans to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, and communities.

If you haven’t done so already, please register your organization to be a 2009 NPM Coalition Member.  To date, more than 1,600 organizations have committed to promote emergency preparedness during the month of September.  Once you register you will receive access to the NPM Web site where you can find a toolkit that includes templates, resources and tips to assist you with promoting emergency preparedness. You will also find an NPM calendar where you can post your events and see what other organizations are doing in your community.  

You can register to become a National Preparedness Month Coalition Member by visiting http://ready.adcouncil.org. To learn more about NPM, visit www.ready.gov and click on the NPM banner.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Ready Campaign at NPM@dhs.gov.

Administrator Fugate Video Message

The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate today released a Web video message highlighting the need for the public to be prepared for any emergency.

“Our entire emergency management team has a role to play when it comes to preparing for and responding to the next disaster,” said Administrator Fugate.  “One of the most important parts of that team is the public.  The more prepared the public is now, by getting an emergency response kit, making an emergency action plan, and getting a skill, like CPR, the stronger our emergency response team will be.”

The Administrator’s video can be found on the following websites:

• FEMA’s Multimedia Website- www.fema.gov/medialibrary 
• Youtube- www.youtube.com/fema 
• Facebook- www.facebook.com/fema 

Tips on how to be prepared, including how to make an emergency plan, and what should be in an emergency response kit, can be found at www.ready.gov/.

Ready Campaign . U.S. Department of Homeland Security . Washington, DC 20528 . 202-282-8000

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12119261?nclick_check=1

By Jessie Mangaliman

Mercury News
Posted: 04/10/2009 06:58:55 PM PDT
Updated: 04/10/2009 09:55:02 PM PDT

Within an hour of learning that phone lines were down Thursday morning in Morgan Hill, severing the 911 system, police officers were dispatched to rouse the members of the city’s emergency response team.

Jennifer Ponce, Morgan Hill’s coordinator of emergency services, answered the door at 3:50 a.m.

Randy Christensen, volunteer coordinator of a city program that trains residents in emergency preparedness heard the doorbell at 5:15 a.m. Way before coffee.

Kirstin Hofmann, Santa Clara County’s coordinator of emergency services, got the call at 5 a.m. The county activated its emergency operations center.

“Things started happening very quickly,” Hofmann said. “I live and breathe this.”

The South Bay telephone outage — reportedly caused by vandals who cut fiber-optic cables — roused and brought together, as if on cue, a group of emergency responders to a man-made disaster, kicking into gear a scenario that they practice year-round, never knowing when that disaster will strike.

By most accounts, response from police and fire and emergency workers was swift and smooth.

And officials in Santa Clara and Monterey counties are praising ham radio operators not only for their quick response, but also for coming through when state-of-the-art technology failed. Amateur radio operators, armed with their antennaed boxes — the true wireless — became the eyes and ears of police and fire on the streets.

They were able to communicate with police and firefighters, who were using their own two-way radios.

“They were invaluable,” said Ponce of the group of ham radio operators in Morgan Hill who were among the first to respond, as in most disasters. For most of the morning, the only form of communication between Gilroy and Morgan Hill was through radio.

Radio operators from Palo Alto and Mountain View came to assist in Morgan Hill and Gilroy, the cities most affected by the outage.

“We didn’t plan for this per se,” said Christensen, who parked near a school and park with his radio for 8?1/2 hours, vigilant for any emergencies that need to be reported to the emergency services center. “But this was great training for us for when the great quake happens.”

No deaths or injuries were reported related to the outage, but Hofmann said the lesson is clear: “This is what we’re prepared to do and it’s just a good reminder to people to have a backup plan. Have a battery-operated radio. That preparedness message is really, really important.”

Cmdr. David Swing of the Morgan Hill Police Department said Thursday’s events and the community’s response underscore for him the importance of good police relations with the community.

When police sent a volunteer to a local Staples to make copies of a news release to distribute to the public, his credit card payment couldn’t be processed: Phones were down. Without hesitation, Swing said, the Staples manager said in effect, “Pay later.”

The city paid Friday.

In Santa Clara County, a recent focus of disaster preparedness has been similar collaboration among public, private and nonprofit sectors “to make sure we’re all prepared to respond,” said Caroline Judy, the county’s logistics chief.

Last month, Judy said county workers got a firsthand look at a big black truck called NERVE, for Network Emergency Response Vehicle, an emergency ommunications center on wheels. NERVE was used during Hurricane Katrina.

Cisco Systems, which owns the truck, was dispatched Thursday to Morgan ill. Beaming up to satellites, it restored telephone and Internet service to the police department. A similar vehicle from the American Red Cross was dispatched to Gilroy.

Thursday, “All those relationships paid off,” Judy said. “It was a good case in point to tap into partnerships and get things rolling.”

Earlier this week, the ARRL received a request from the FCC asking that ARRL members to provide technical educational assistance to their communities concerning the FCC-mandated digital television (DTV) conversion scheduled for February 17, 2009.

According to ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, Amateur Radio clubs across the country are being asked to develop and implement plans to provide information throughout January and February about the DTV conversion in their areas. The FCC is leaving it up to the clubs to decide how to do this, as local groups understand the communities in ways that the FCC does not. Each community is a little different, Pitts said, so plans carried out by the clubs will vary from community to community. Interested groups should contact their ARRL Section Manager.

Pitts stressed that hams should not make “house calls,” sell any equipment or do actual installations; the request is only to distribute technical information and FCC materials. He commented: “As we all know, some folks just never get the message until too late. Materials for presentations, education and many other activities are available online. Beginning early January, FCC staff will contact Section Managers and leaders of interested clubs and, where possible, arrange to meet to share even more information, audio, visual and printed materials, as well as and training aids, with the clubs involved this effort. We know the time is short, but your aid in this now will be appreciated.”

In early January, Pitts said that the FCC will ask Section Managers for the names and contact information of the volunteering groups. The FCC staff will then make contact with the groups, learn their plans and provide them with the media, brochures or other materials groups may need in this effort. Materials also can be downloaded from the DTV Conversion Web site. FCC regional staff members may even come and visit with larger groups to aid in implementation of the group’s plans.

“I really appreciate the willingness of the ARRL to actively participate in helping Americans with the transition to DTV and your helpful suggestions,” said George Dillon, FCC Deputy Bureau Chief for Field Operations. “The DTV transition will be an historic moment in the evolution of TV. Broadcast television stations can offer viewers improved picture and sound quality and new programming choices. All-digital broadcasting also will allow us to significantly improve public safety communications and will usher in a new era of advanced wireless services such as the widespread deployment of wireless broadband. Our goal is to engage the amateur community on a cooperative basis to help with the DTV outreach and to educate consumers.”

Dillon continued that local Amateur Radio clubs might consider offering technical advice to consumers via telephone to those consumers who may encounter difficulty with the installation and setting up of their converter box. “Any assistance…will greatly help in the efforts of the FCC to ensure a smooth transition to DTV on February 17, 2009.”

Pitts advises interested groups to keep in mind that they are to provide technical educational help only: “At no time should the hams enter someone else’s home or install equipment. They should not broker or sell conversion boxes in any way. Clubs can provide such things as a call-in telephone number for technical help, make presentations at meetings, do demonstrations at malls or give talks to other groups — whatever works in their community.”