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 Previous: FCC Amateur Radio Enforcement Letters for the Period Ending March 19, 2005 |  Next: Past ARRL Director, Contest Hall of Famer Rush S. Drake, W7RM, SK |
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 21, 2005--Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) members in Connecticut, New Jersey and several other states in the Northeastern US are preparing to take part in what's being characterized as the most comprehensive terrorism response exercise ever conducted in the US. Sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security and intended as a realistic test of the nation's homeland security system, the exercise--TOPOFF 3--gets under way Monday, April 4, and continues through the week. ARES primarily will support the American Red Cross--the only nongovernmental organization with a formal role in the recently released National Disaster Plan. The Red Cross has main responsibility for mass care under the plan. Connecticut Section Emergency Coordinator Chuck Rexroad, AB1CR, is in the process of lining up the 100 or so volunteers he estimates will be needed in the region for the mass casualty drill.
"We're still looking for volunteers in all four types of positions needed," Rexroad told ARRL. "People who can staff a permanent position, people who can set up a temporary position, people who can do shadowing and--the big one we're missing right now--people who can temporarily put a radio in a mobile Red Cross van."
The TOPOFF 3 scenario will depict a complex terrorist campaign beginning in Connecticut and New Jersey and leading to national and international response that will include Canada, where the exercise will be known as "TRIPLE PLAY," and the United Kingdom, where it will be called "ATLANTIC BLUE." Rexroad anticipates that ARES will be providing its traditional "backbone" communication support among Red Cross mobile feeding stations, the organization's temporary stationary facilities and other Red Cross units. ARES also will be ready to provide back-up communication support the Connecticut Office of Emergency Management, he said.
Connecticut Section Manager Betsey Doane, K1EIC, and Rexroad have been preparing for this drill for more than a year, and both hope the ARES role in TOPOFF 3 will provide an opportunity for graduates of the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications courses to put into practice what they've learned--on a national stage.
While governmental agencies will comprise the majority of those taking part in TOPOFF 3, Amateur Radio's cooperation with and assistance to Red Cross will be under scrutiny, Rexroad says.
"We've been assigned evaluators and judges who will be watching what we do and how we do it to determine our suitability for such things in the future," he explained.
Rexroad says ARES participation in an exercise of this scale is an opportunity for the Amateur Service to put on display what it does best. At the TOPOFF2 exercise a couple of years ago, he noted, evaluators pointed to massive communication problems that Amateur Radio could have helped to resolve, Rexroad said. "So we do hope that this will show that we are very relevant in responding to a disaster situation."
A participant in the post-September 11, 2001, response at the Pentagon, Rexroad said cellular telephones and other conventional communication systems broke down there for about one week, and Amateur Radio proved to be the sole means to support The Salvation Army's on-site communications.
At last report, Rexroad had commitments from nearly three-quarters of the necessary volunteers. "The sections surrounding Connecticut have all offered to provide assistance, and we're looking forward to support from Eastern and Western Massachusetts, Rhode Island and possibly even some people from New York," Rexroad said. "We're definitely looking forward to that support from out-of-section."
TOPOFF 3 ARES volunteers will need to be comfortable with a high-security environment, realistic-looking "injuries" and military aircraft flying overhead, Rexroad says. In terms of equipment, he says most operation will take place on VHF and UHF, with an HF link to the National Traffic System only. He said handheld transceivers are acceptable, but he highly recommends headsets to contend with a potentially noisy environment. Volunteers will wear matching vests that say "Radio Communications" on the back and "ARES" on the front.
Due to security requirements, all volunteers must register with ARES in advance of the exercise. Prospective volunteers should contact Rexroad directly for additional information on how to sign up. "We appreciate all the help and support we can get!" he says. Information on the exercise and how to volunteer is on the Connecticut ARES Web site.
| Previous: FCC Amateur Radio Enforcement Letters for the Period Ending March 19, 2005 | Next: Past ARRL Director, Contest Hall of Famer Rush S. Drake, W7RM, SK |
