ARES

Emergency Response Plan

for Hawaii County

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Amateur Radio Emergency Service^® (ARES^®) is an American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsored program that consists of Amateur Radio Operators, licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for public service duty in the event of a communication emergency.

1.2 The primary mission of the Hawaii County ARES is to furnish communication to one or more served agencies in the event of a natural or man-made disaster when normal means of communication are inadequate or fail. ARES teams may provide local, county-wide, and/or state-wide communication as required by the nature of the disaster.

1.3 At the national level, ARES has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Citizens Corp., Volunteers Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD), American Red Cross (ARC), National Weather Service (NWS), and Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN).

1.4 ARES subscribes to and uses Incident Command System (ICS) protocols.

1.5 Federal regulations [FCC rules Part 97] prohibit the contents of formal messages handled by Amateur Radio Operators from being divulged to unauthorized persons. Amateur Radio is a non-commercial licensed service and may not be directly compensated for operations.

1.6 The organizational structure of the Hawaii County ARES leadership officials is summarized in appendix A. ARES volunteers report to an Emergency Coordinator (EC) in their local community who, in turn, reports to a District Emergency Coordinator (DEC). DECs report to the Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC). The SEC is responsible for sending reports to the ARRL Section Manager (SM) or his assistant.

1.7 In addition to the national organizations listed in 1.3 above, the following local agencies could be served under this plan: Hawaii State Civil Defense, Hawaii County Civil Defense, Hawaii County Fire Department, Hawaii County Police Department, Community Hospitals, Community Associations, as well as other local agencies or groups requesting assistance with communications.

2.0 PURPOSE

2.1 The purpose of this plan is to provide a written guideline containing the minimum information that would be needed in a communication emergency.

2.2 This document shall be shared with our served agencies to clarify the structure and capabilities of the Hawaii County ARES program.

3.0 ACTIVATION

3.1 In the event of a communications emergency an official of a served agency should notify any one of the ARES leadership officials listed in appendix A of this document that Amateur Radio Operators may be needed to provide backup communication for the agency. This notification may be pre-arranged for automatic activation.

3.2 Upon becoming aware that a communication emergency exists, the notified ARES leadership official will notify the DECs and ECs in the affected areas and request them to activate their teams.

3.3 ECs in the affected areas, or their assistants, will open tactical nets on the primary local VHF and regional HF frequencies and send an initial situation report (SITREP) to the DEC and the SEC. The SEC is responsible for reporting to the SM.

3.4 Any member of an ARES team, who for any reason suspects a communication emergency may exist, shall activate the primary VHF and HF nets and report these conditions to the EC and/or the DEC or their assistants.

4.0 MOBILIZATION

4.1 Upon becoming aware that a communication emergency exists all ARES members shall check in to the primary local VHF net from their home, mobile, and/or portable station for information, instructions, and assignments.

4.2 The Emergency Coordinator (EC) in an affected area shall contact the local ICS Logistics Officer in order to coordinate all ARES related communications activities with the ICS Incident Commander.

4.3 The EC shall dispatch individual mobile and/or portable units as the situation warrants.

4.4 The EC may designate one or more stations as “key stations” which shall be used extensively during the communication emergency.

4.5 If one or more of the designated emergency shelters should be opened, the EC may dispatch an emergency radio team (ERT) to operate a station at each shelter.

4.6 The EC shall assign a liaison station to the Big Island Wide Area Repeater Network (BIWARN) and the Hawaii inter-island radio networks if the situation warrants.

4.7 The EC may direct the operators of home stations not on emergency power to provide support at a designated key station if the situation warrants.

5.0 OPERATION

5.1 All ARES members shall follow standard operating procedures governing public service communication promulgated by the ARRL and the FCC.

5.2 All radio networks will be directed nets and all stations shall call the designated net control station (NCS) for permission to transmit. Every ARES member is responsible for knowing and using proper net procedures.

5.3 Tactical call signs may be used as long as FCC rules regarding station identification are satisfied.

5.4 All formal messages originated from a served agency shall be written in standard ARRL format and each message shall be signed by the person who originated it and who takes responsibility for its content.

5.5 Training shall be an ongoing activity to ensure that amateur radio operators, who are members of the Hawaii County ARES, will be ready to respond in the event a communication emergency occurs. Local tests and exercises may be scheduled to maintain readiness.

5.6 The Hawaii County ARES shall participate in an annual communication preparedness test, conducted in conjunction with the nationwide simulated emergency test (SET), sponsored by the ARRL and the Hawaii State Civil Defense.

For Appendices and Organizational Contact Info please contact your community "ARES Emergency Coordinator" (EC)

or

Join Hawaii ARES at this site: https://www.hawaiiares.info/index.shtml