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 Previous: Texas Youngsters Log 170th ARISS School Group QSO |  Next: ARRL Represents Amateur Radio at Science Teachers' Convention |
 Connecticut SEC Chuck Rexroad, AB1CR, at the ARES marshaling center in Chesterfield, Connecticut--just outside the TOPOFF 3 "hot zone." |
 Connecticut SM Betsey Doane, K1EIC, responds to a call. |
 TOPOFF 3 started off with a bang in New London, Connecticut. |
 ARES volunteers staff a communications center at Red Cross Headquarters in New London. |
 Realism rules: TOPOFF 3 "victims" James Bond and Linda Kleinschmidt show off their "injuries" and explain how they were treated during a press briefing in New London, Connecticut. |
 Click here to see a TOPOFF 3 video clip featuring Connecticut SEC Chuck Rexroad, AB1CR |
 Click here to see a TOPOFF 3 video clip featuring Connecticut SM Betsey Doane, K1EIC |
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 6, 2005--As the active, on-the-ground portion of the massive TOPOFF 3 homeland security exercise winds down, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers in Connecticut are continuing their support of the American Red Cross. Sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security and intended as a realistic test of the nation's homeland security system, TOPOFF 3's goal is to push the system of first responders beyond their limits to find the weak spots. ARRL Connecticut Section Emergency Coordinator Chuck Rexroad, AB1CR, said today that not only does he believe Amateur Radio has acquitted it self very well during the first three days of the drill, the American Red Cross apparently does as well.
"I got a note from the Red Cross disaster manager saying, 'You guys are doing a fantastic job, and we really appreciate everything you're doing,'" Rexroad reported. "We certainly were--and still are at this point--their only communications between all of their local feeding vehicles, their kitchen, their headquarters and anywhere else they want to communicate to."
Given main responsibility for mass care under the National Disaster Plan, the Red Cross called on Connecticut ARES to provide radio communication for TOPOFF 3. Rexroad says that while he hasn't compiled final statistics yet, ARES volunteers have been able to staff simultaneously 10 emergency response vehicles, one logistical vehicle, four stationary locations and a net control station plus a couple of supplementary positions.
In all, as many as 40 of the 150 ARES volunteers from Connecticut and other states in the Northeast who turned out have been deployed to the field at any given time, and everyone got to take part at some point. "Everybody had a job to do," Rexroad said. "Everyone had at least one shift when they were able to get on the radio and provide communications support."
The Connecticut TOPOFF 3 began with a bang--an explosion in New London meant to simulate a terrorist attack. "Loud enough that the organizers passed out earplugs for the media gathered on the bluffs above," recounted ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP--a former Connecticut SEC and current ARES member.
Visual realism was very much a part of the $16 million exercise--the largest federal drill ever held, and prospective ARES volunteers were cautioned in advance. "As the mushroom cloud of smoke drifted away," Pitts said, describing the explosion's immediate aftermath, "hundreds of gory victims processed into the site to assume positions of death and agony." Pitts says Amateur Radio's real work only began in earnest after the media also drifted away, once the smoke and simulated blood were gone.
Connecticut Section Manager Betsey Doane, K1EIC, praised the professionalism the ARES ranks have demonstrated, and she credited the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications courses and other training with raising the overall level of operating skill--even among newer operators.
"There were a few new people that were assigned to be observers, and before the end of the drill ended up trained well enough to be an operator on an ERV," she said. "I have to tell you, I was impressed, and I think I'm pretty critical about that, having done this for a long time."
TOPOFF 3 required those involved to be ready for unexpected events, and the ARES operation wasn't spared. "The only big curveball we got thrown was when one of the judges decided they were going to take one of our repeaters down, so we were told that would no longer be available to us," Rexroad explained. But Connecticut ARES was ready for such an eventuality and was able to switch to a backup repeater already written into its planning. Ironically, a genuine repeater breakdown occurred April 4, just before the exercise got under way.
Rexroad and Doane agreed that TOPOFF 3 has been a learning experience for ARES. "We learned a fair number of lessons, and most of them were organizational, not technical, in nature," Rexoad remarked. Citing an example, Doane said the ARES team refined its tracking procedure on the fly to make it work more smoothly.
"I think we were well-prepared, we tried to anticipate where the positions would be, tried to serve the American Red Cross, our main served agency who invited us, as well as we could in terms of complying with their needs," Doane commented. "I think we've done that. Anytime we asked for a resource, it came through. It was wonderful!"
Rexroad says Connecticut ARES also prepared to assist the Connecticut Office of Emergency Management and actually activated several of its stations to show the state officials that it had the back-up coverage in case they needed it. While ARES didn't handle any drill-related message traffic for OEM, they did pass voice and packet messages to demonstrate ARES' capability to do so.
A bioterrorism incident was the scenario in New Jersey--the only other TOPOFF 3 site. Emergency officials there not only were key to
the exercise, they had real problems owing to flooding in the northern part of
the state. ARES teams in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania participated in
the flood emergency response and relief effort.
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