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 Previous: Surfin': Tracking Spacecraft Online |  Next: Hams' Role in Hurricane Ivan Recovery Winding Down |
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 20, 2004--Amateur Radio operators in two of the worst-hit counties in the Florida Panhandle are into their fourth day of supporting Hurricane Ivan relief and recovery operations. Escambia County ARES Emergency Coordinator Gene Bannon, KB4HAH, said today that he has enough operators for the moment at the county emergency operations center (EOC) and in the field. Telephone service is still spotty, and power is out over most of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. ARES has been supporting American Red Cross and The Salvation Army relief operations as well as food distribution centers, evacuation shelters and even the US military.
"This has all been one big day to me," said Bannon of the time since the hurricane hit. Bannon not only is the county's EC, he works for telephone provider Bell South. "If I'm not working for Bell South, I'm working down at the EOC." Bannon says the same group of radio amateurs has been taking turns handling emergency traffic since the hurricane struck September 17.
A mandatory evacuation order remains in effect in Escambia county, and schools and government offices in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are closed until further notice.
Problems continue to crop up for the ARES operation as a result of the storm's widespread devastation. "They're not brush fires, they're forest fires," Bannon said. "This morning, the repeater died."
Fortunately, he said, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has a new replacement repeater on the way, but Bannon remains concerned about the rest of the system, including the antennas. Another local repeater was lost to the storm, and the EOC communicators have been working with a secondary backup repeater.
Bannon also was uncertain Monday about how members of the ARES team were holding up or how long they would be able to stay at their volunteer posts before having to return to their jobs or their homes and families. He has a request on file for another 20 operators (call 850-595-3341). His son-in-law John Krantz, KG4GGL, lost essentially everything in the storm and has been working at the EOC since the hurricane came ashore. He says the 15 or 16 operators now on duty at the EOC and in the field had been working 16-hour shifts but have since dropped back to 8-hour shifts. The homes of many other county amateurs also were lost--although Bannon's was spared serious damage--and nearly all lost antenna systems.
Bannon says a ham radio couple from Texas on their honeymoon "showed up on our doorstep and said, 'We're ready to operate. Where do you want us?'" He said the couple--Dale Walker, AA5DW, and Chanda Bartlett, AD5IQ--arrived with their RV loaded with a month's worth of food and two weeks of fuel, and he's been taking advantage of their largesse in the ARES activation. The RV, he said, is equipped for everything from HF on up. The couple had been handling shelter communications but now is providing communication between a Red Cross feeding station and the EOC.
Krantz said there were not enough ARES operators to deal with health-and-welfare traffic at this point. The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz has been handling some H&W traffic as it is able, on the air and via its Web site.
Northern Florida Section Traffic Manager Dale Sewell, N4SGQ, says he understands that supply distribution lines are very long for the local community, and stress levels are running high.
"Travel routes continue to be cut off and rerouted by National Guard personnel," he added. "Fuel availability is scarce, and amateurs are reporting that the only reasonable gas lines are over 50 miles from Pensacola in Walton County."
He said amateur operations continue to utilize incoming operator support in both counties. "The response from amateurs throughout the country is outstanding," he said. He anticipated another two dozen or so radio amateurs might be needed this week in both Escambia County and Pensacola as well as in Santa Rosa County, where he said District Emergency Coordinator Bill Hayden, WY8O, has been "performing tirelessly under merciless conditions" in coordinating ARES operations.
Hayden has a request on file for another 16 radio amateurs to report to the Santa Rosa County EOC (850-983-5360; 4499 Pine Forest Road, Milton). Operators should be equipped for VHF communication, and HF capability would be a plus. The operation could last for the next week. ARRL was unable to reach Hayden on September 20.
Amateurs this week also have been keeping an ear on HF emergency nets on 3950 and 7254 kHz. Nets are being called up at 1300, 1600, 1900 and 2330 UTC daily.
ARES Team Activates for Delaware River Flooding
Much farther north, in Mercer County, New Jersey, ARES/RACES activated over the weekend to staff the radio room at the Mercer County EOC after emergency managers found themselves dealing with flooding. The high water was a result of heavy rainfall from remnants of Hurricane Ivan in the Catskill and Pocono Mountains, causing the Delaware River to reach its highest flood levels in 50 years.
Southern New Jersey Section Emergency Coordinator Gary Wilson, K2GW, reported that debris in the river, which included a 1000-gallon propane tank, caused periodic bridge closures over the weekend. Some 1500 people had to evacuate September 19 to three shelters, area hotels and other sites. Wilson said the river was expected to recede below flood stage by this evening.
Mercer County radio amateurs staffed the EOC's W2MER Amateur Radio station continuously in four-hour shifts until this morning. Additional amateurs were on call via the W2ZQ Mercer County ARES/RACES repeater.
"The hams used the NJOEM statewide 220 MHz NJ2EM repeater and the statewide 2 meter APRS digital messaging network to maintain links with the Hunterdon County and Warren County EOCs farther up the river," Wilson said. "Per the Mercer County EOC protocol, the hams also were the operators of the public safety radios in the EOC to maintain contact with the sheriff officers coordinating the evacuations along the river." Seven ARES/RACES members took part in the activation.
| Previous: Surfin': Tracking Spacecraft Online | Next: Hams' Role in Hurricane Ivan Recovery Winding Down |
