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 Previous: Vanity Processing Could Be on Hiatus Until Late December |  Next: New ISS Commander Delights Japanese Youngsters via Ham Radio |
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 26, 2005--Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) volunteers from all three Florida ARRL sections have answered the call to provide communication support in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. Millions of residents there are reported without power, and relief agencies still are attempting to meet basic needs. Ham radio volunteers are out in force to assist them.
"Amateurs are providing vital tactical communications for the Red Cross and their shelters, special care facilities, county EOCs (emergency operations centers), state logistical staging areas (LSA), and points of distribution (PODs) for food, ice and water," said ARRL Southern Florida Section Emergency Communications Coordinator Jeff Beals, WA4AW. He's been coordinating the deployment of Amateur Radio volunteers in his section with assistance from ARRL West Central Florida SEC Neil Lauritsen, W4NHL, and ARRL Northern Florida SEC Joe Bushel, W2DWR.
More than 30 shelters have been opened in several counties, including Hardee, Collier, Broward and Palm Beach. They're providing refuge for upward of 4000 storm evacuees.
In Palm Beach County, ARRL Emergency Coordinator Dave Messinger, N4QPM, reports Amateur Radio volunteers are staffing three Red Cross shelters, a special care unit, the Red Cross Chapter house, the LSA at the county fairgrounds and the county EOC. Staging areas for volunteers in Southern Florida are in the Palm Beach EOC (20 South Military Trail) and the W Palm Beach and Broward County EOC (201 NW 84th Avenue, Plantation), just west of Ft Lauderdale.
Beals said the Amateur Radio link between the Broward EOC and the Palm Beach Fairgrounds distribution point has proven invaluable as a primary communication channel because of problems with satellite telephones.
He reports the Wellington RACES team spearheaded by RACES Radio Officer Larry Lazar, KS4NB, has been handling local health-and-welfare traffic. The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz also has begun handling Hurricane Wilma health-and-welfare traffic.
HF traffic nets have been running smoothly. Tactical and resource nets remain in operation. "Much of the affected areas of Southern Florida are still without power and landline telephone service at this time," Beals added.
Bushel has been coordinating volunteers from his section planning to deploy to Southern Florida. "Certain areas in South Florida need communication assistance," he said in a message intended for prospective volunteers. "In some cases, you are needed to relieve those who have been working since before the storm hit. In other cases, you might be used where communications have been wiped out by the storm."
Bushel said volunteers will need to be "self-contained," carrying all radios, antennas, parts and accessories with them. Food, water and shelter will be available, however. Amateur Radio volunteers should not self deploy. All volunteers must obtain a tracker number from the state EOC and await instructions to deploy.
Northern Florida State Government Liaison Ted Zateslo, W1XO, reports generators are in high demand as the widespread power outages are hampering relief efforts. Southern Florida SM Sherri Brower, W4STB, still without electricity, has been told it could be up to two weeks before power is restored in her area, Zateslo said. Brower does have telephone service, however.
Beals said that he and Brower "wish to express our appreciation to all the amateurs who have answered the call for assistance to our section."
Volunteer Databases
The Hurricane Wilma Disaster Communications Volunteer Registration Database is available for Amateur Radio volunteers to sign up for communication support duty on behalf of Hurricane Wilma relief and recovery efforts in Florida, both immediate and in the near future.
Relief organizations needing Amateur Radio volunteers may register their needs on the Hurricane Wilma Amateur Radio Volunteers Needed Clearing House. This is the ARRL's volunteer coordination Web site. Relief/served agencies are invited to post their communications requirements on this site. Amateur Radio operators also may use the site's search function to locate listings of agencies that need Amateur Radio volunteers. Volunteers should not self deploy but wait until they are contacted and assigned a tracking number.
An Amazing Hurricane Season
Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) Assistant Manager Bobby Graves, KB4HAV, called the 2005 hurricane season "an amazing season to say the least." The HWN, which operates on 14.325 MHz, stood down early on October 25 after 19 straight hours of activation.
"If there were a record to be broken, it has happened this year," Graves said. "Only problem is, we still have the rest of October and November to go as the Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Season ends November 30. Let's hope and pray that Wilma is the last storm for the season."
The HWN works in cooperation with WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to gather real-time ground-level weather data to aid forecasters in predicting the storm's behavior.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida's east coast reopened October 26. The center sustained minor hurricane damage, and NASA says preliminary assessments indicate no damage to space flight hardware or to its shuttle fleet.
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