Welcome to Polk County IA ARES 

Volunteer amateur radio operators providing resilient, auxiliary emergency communications and public service support across Polk County and Central Iowa. 

Emergency Response

When commercial cellular networks and power grids fail during winter storms, floods, or infrastructure disruptions, ARES operators provide mission-critical voice and digital backup for Polk County Emergency Management and partner agencies.

Skywarn Severe Weather

Working closely with the National Weather Service forecast office in Johnston, trained ARES spotters provide ground-truth observations on wind damage, hail size, and tornado development across the county in real time.

Public Service & Drills

We deploy communications infrastructure for community events, marathons, parades, and regional emergency management exercises to test interoperability and cross-county coordination.