7. December 13 2003

This drill involved every agency in the county and three surrounding area ARES teams.

We setup our operations center, a communications trailer, and full Incident Command System to test out our policy and system.

This was a mid-sized drill just to test those aspects.

Operators were given assignments and "sent" out into the field to their assignment.

The Red Cross responded to establish a shelter for the amateur radio operators to sleep in between operational periods. Supporting the working crews was a concept Red Cross had not planned for!

They also brought their canteen to serve hot drinks and food.

Over all 70 plus people were invovled in this drill as well as over 80 county agencies.

Letters To Agencies

Dear , November 14, 2003

We are a team of Emergency Communications Operators that utilize amateur radio to supplement existing radio systems during emergencies and crisis when normal system are overloaded or become non-functional.

We have radio equipment installed at the Butler County Emergency Management Emergency Operations Center, Butler County Red Cross Headquarters in Middletown, the Butler County Sheriff’s Communications 911 Center, and Butler Technical School where our main station is located.

These agencies and organizations are in support of our ability to provide another tool to them and the community in a crisis.

On Saturday December 13th, 2003 we will be holding a drill between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M.

Our drill will simulate severe weather in Butler County that has caused a wide spread power outage, loss of police and fire communications, loss of cellular communications, the scattered outage of telephones in the county, plus numerous wires and trees down as well as structural damage from the winds.

We will be sending a radio operator to your station(s) to test the reliability and readability of mobile and hand held radios as part of our pre-planning for such an event.

Any of the duty personnel on station are more than welcome to participate by sending a message to another station, agency or department as part of our drill.

We are sending this information to you in advance so you can notify your staff and personnel, to alert them of our planned activity, team members being on your property and around your facilities, as not to alarm them.

If there are any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me any time.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation,

Sincerely,

Robert Spratt N8TVU

Butler County Emergency Coordinator

Amateur Radio Emergency Services

Home (513) XXX-XXXX

Cell (513) XXX-XXXX

Drill Objectives

Introduce amateur radio, A.R.E.S., and our communications capabilities to the public safety officials in the county and work directly with them on this drill.

Training our membership on how the ICS works, responsibilities of each of the Top Eight positions within the ICS and who to go to in the ICS for specific task.

Drill exercises the:

• Primary Activation Plan and Backup Activation Plan

• Emergency Communications Planning – initial off site Net Control being handed off to the County Control Station, transitioning the information, etc.

• Operational Planning – know when to begin calling for additional assistance, etc.

• Incident Command System and Span of Control plans

• Net Control Operators (NCO) with using Computer Aided Dispatching Systems and software.

• Communications capabilities from each agency station and sub-station with mobile and portable communications, through the repeater and simplex.

• Weak Points, Strong Points, and work on strengthening the team in general.

Field Operators will:

• Learn the location of police departments, fire departments, and public service agencies and their sub stations throughout the county.

• Learn challenges in map reading, usage, finding their own directions to and from assignments, how to reroute around obstructions and "Posted" road closures

• Learn Net Procedures with heavy volume of traffic being passed.

• Learn practical application of TACTICAL CALL SIGNS combined with FCC Call Signs.

• Gain an understanding of ICS-204 form specific information, fill out the form with a description of what was found or noted for that assignment/detail/mission.

Have a great time!

Cell (513) xxx-xxxx

Operational Period 1: December 12, 2003 – 1800 Hrs

Incident Action Plan:

• Place operators at each community dispatch center.

• Determine extent of damage to county communications.

• Determine approximate length of time for restoration of county wide communications.

• Determine the ARES resources required for the next two (2) operational periods.

• Place operators at each served agency to aid in their operations.

Operational Period 2: December 12, 2003 – 1800 Hrs.

Incident Action Plan -

0800 Staff Briefing

Storms have knocked out power, telephone and countywide radio communications

4+ inches of rain has fallen in under 90 minutes-it’s still raining @ approximately .5" per hour – per Wilmington NWS.

Gust front winds were clocked at HAO @ over 90 MPH – there were reports of structural damage before the 911 centers lost communications and power.

Butler County Red Cross needs:

5 DAT’s

1 Shelter Team (for now)

Butler Sheriff Office 911 Center Supervisor needs:

One radio operator at every firehouse, police station and 911 center in the county.

Check and make sure everyone there is OK and if they have any communications up and on the air at all.

If we can cover the hospitals, maintenance department, parks, water, sewage, and other city and county services that would also be a great help to get assistance to the public.

ICS Staff assignments before we have our next staff meeting at 0830:

Safety Officer – Dick Johnson Red Cross– check the facility we are in for damage and unsafe conditions. Work with the staging officer to establish a traffic flow into and out of the lot for volunteers and bus transportation.

I would like to use the rear drive and lots for arriving supplies, equipment etc.

Check the church lot for a possible LZ if it is needed. Clear it of any debris etc.

Liaison Officer – Bob Kaegi KC8TPC - maintain contact with Red Cross and the County 911 center and keep me updated on any changes.

Information Officer – Mike Ashley KC8PTP

We need a complete WX report for the next 72 hours

Any information you can get as far as currant damage or flooding-start noting it on the master map.

Planning Section – Rob McPherson N8OMW

We have the basic needs of the SO & Red Cross, start working on the 204’s and work with OP’s so he can estimate what he will need as far as operators and nets.

Have documentation track everything activated and begin assembling your demobilization plan.

Planning and Ops needs to have the IAP by 0830.

Operations Officer – Rob McPherson N8OMW

Estimate the number of operators you will need and get Resources to start recruiting.

Right now we need to plan on at least a 3-day operation.

Look over the terrain we are going to be operating in.

When we convene let the Logistics chief know how many nets, and net categories you think you will need for the operation.

Logistics Section Chief – Jay Slough K4ZLE

Have the facilities unit leader tag with the Safety Officer and take note on what needs to be taken care of.

Have your Comms manager begin getting in enough NCO’s to hold down 6 nets for the duration.

We are operating under the Ohio Section Emergency Response Plan.

For simplicity we will use local time for our logs, have your operators put a +5 hrs for Zulu time notation on the top of each log sheet.

TAC NETS – net calls every 30 minutes.

Ops – field supervisors to check on non-responding operators.

Staging – get your people in place As Soon As Possible –resources will be arriving soon.

Liaison – notify the IC as soon as possible if any dignitaries or news media arrives.

Radio communications will be on the Command Staff Freq. 444.6000 PL 100.0

Operational Period 2: December 13, 2003 – 0600 Hrs.

Incident Action Plan -

• Recruit adequate ARES resources to replace operators already assigned and fill new assignments as they are requested.

• Rotate out the existing Overhead Staff that have been on assignment more than 12 hours.

• Rotate out field units that have been on assignment more than 12 hours.

• Have Red Cross to begin setting up a shelter area for operators to eat, sleep, and shower.

• Begin Health & Welfare Net by the end of this operational period.

• Maintain radio contact with Communications centers, agencies, and field units without commercial communications.

• Provide communications for arriving National Guard units.

• Supplement Red Cross with coordination via communications for their support operation.

• Provide operators for the served agencies requesting communications for the support of their operation.

Drill Photos

RESOURCES

Elmer Harbron KC8KEY and Steve Ramsey KC8VDT at the RESOURCE UNIT desk.

These are the first people you see when arriving at the command post and the last one's you see before leaving!

RESOURCES keeps track of everyone involved in the incident.

Signing in and out is a big part of how we keep track of everyone, so it is very important to do so.

OPERATIONS & PLANNING

Rob McPherson N8OMW

Doubled as the Operations Chief and Planning Section Chief for this drill.

This is where Planning figures out what needs to be done, how many people it will take to get it done, has resources order up that many people, and projects a plan as to where and how those resources need to be distributed.

Operations takes that information and fills out ICS-204 forms for each segment of the plan. Individuals or teams of people will be assigned to each "Mission" (ICS-204) to complete that particular task.

INCIDENT COMMUNICATIONS

Joint training of this type and incorporating your served agency in a slightly different roll than they are use to doing benefits both organizations. This drill helped Red Cross officials realize that they may be spread very thin if they had to shelter "Clients" and workers as well in different locations! Logistically a nightmare!

The good thing, it got them to thinking "out of the box". They held their own "brain storming" session afterwards in a huge "WHAT IF" session. Since then, they have updated their response plan a bit.