RCARES/Index addendum

From Megawiki


Root River floods Racine Neighborhoods

Area hams are still on standby after the Root River floods Racine neighborhoods. The Root River was at record 11.3 feet at 9:30 am Monday June 9th, 2008. The highest level ever recorded was 8.54 feet in 1961. Many basements were flooded and some residents were forced to evacuate. See pictures

UPDATE June 16, 2008 - Governor Jim Doyle announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has declared a state of disaster for Racine county, bringing the number of Wisconsin counties where individual assistance is available to seven. The designation frees up federal aid, including grants and low-interest loans.

ARES Emergency Management Featured Partner

Our monthly preparedness campaign has resumed, thanks to an outstanding volunteer who has stepped forward to help us revamp the campaign. Over the past several years, Racine County Emergency Management has featured a monthly preparedness topic. There is a different area of emphasis each month. In 2008, we will also highlight one of our partners each month.


Each April, we observe Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week and we ask families and businesses to review safety tips, their emergency plans and to conduct a tornado drill. This months flier offers safety tips, dispels some myths and reviews items each family should have in their disaster supply kit. The flier can be found at:


http://www.racineco.com/crepository/emergencyman/2008AprPr.pdf

In addition, our featured partner in April is the Racine County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES). ARES consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty. They serve the public when disaster strikes. It is at the local level where most of the real emergency organizing gets accomplished, because this is the level at which most emergencies occur. ARES leaders make direct contact with local ARES member volunteers and local officials of the agencies to be served. The local Emergency Coordinator is therefore the key contact for ARES. For more information, check out their website at: www.rcares.org.

David L. Maack, CEM, CPM Racine County Emergency Management 262.636.3515 e-mail: david.maack@goRacine.org www.racineco.com/emergencymanagement "Building a Disaster Resistant Community-Making Disaster Resistance a Way of Life"

City of Racine Siren Testing April 24th

A statewide Tornado Drill will be conducted on Thursday, April 24th. A 'mock' Tornado Watch will be issued at 1:00 PM and a 'mock' Tornado Warning will be issued between 1:20- 1:25 PM. Outdoor Warning Sirens will be activated in the city of Racine. More details on participants are shown here at the RCARES ARES/RACES BBS to the left.

National Weather Service Training

Left


The Volunteer Center of Racine County hosted the Racine County Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the National Weather Service for a communications training.

The ham radio operators learned how to effectively send reports of weather conditions over ham radio to the National Weather Service in Sullivan, WI.


Often the volunteer spotters on the ground are the eyes for the National Weather Service. This group meets every Thursday at 7 Pm at the Volunteer center of Racine.

Local Hams Respond

American Red Cross official, Steve Buck N9EAL, Racine County ARES Emergency Coordinator, Jim Markstrom KB9MMA and Steve Brown KC5GWN listen to reports from communications teams from the Red Cross building in Racine.
American Red Cross official, Steve Buck N9EAL, Racine County ARES Emergency Coordinator, Jim Markstrom KB9MMA and Steve Brown KC5GWN listen to reports from communications teams from the Red Cross building in Racine.
RACINE, WI- Local Amateur Radio Emergency Service operators were called into action after the outbreak of tornadoes in Kenosha county which destroyed houses and knocked out power late Monday afternoon. The operators, often called Hams, began providing support communications for the agencies responding to the disaster.

Volunteering their services, the Hams provided logistical communications at the two relief shelters which the Red Cross opened in Kenosha County. The Hams also operated a station at the Kenosha County Emergency Operation Center.

The areas hardest hit by the storm were the townships of Wheatland, Somers and the city of Kenosha. Riding along with Red Cross teams, the Hams began their communications routine helping relay assessments of the damage back to the American Red Cross building in Racine.

"Providing communications is essential." Said Alex Voss N9RGX, Assistant Emergency Coordinator for the Racine County ARES.

"Cellphones are not up to the task. When the teams deployed in the field need to call in their reports you don't want them fumbling with a cellphone. You can't have everyone calling the same phone number at once either. Having a dedicated person along who can radio the information back to the Red Cross is essential to get the time-valued information where it's needed fast." Voss said.

Hams keep track of the location of communications teams.
Hams keep track of the location of communications teams.
"Organization is key. We set up a communications network at the Red Cross building in Racine, outside of the affected area. As radio operators volunteer we assign them to a location. Keeping track of the location of each team member and their situation helps keep them safe. When a disaster strikes, we don't want to add any of our volunteers to the list of affected individuals." Voss said.

"We were ready to go when activated. I couldn't be more proud of our volunteers. We will work with the responding agencies as long as they need us. We'll take what we've learned this time and use it to improve our response in the future." Voss said.

"Amateur Radio Emergency Services is a completely voluntary organization that is dedicated and gets the job done, when all else is fails. I am very proud of the persons active in our organization, they get the job done for the agencies we serve, and the general public." Said Jim Markstrom ARES Emergency Coordinator for Racine County.

With about 20 radio operators deployed in the field, the Hams were able to provide effective communications for the responding agencies. The Racine County ARES meets weekly on Thursdays at the Volunteer Center of Racine County at 6216 Washington Avenue Suite G. Persons interested in learning more about Ham radio or emergency communications should contact Jim Markstrom, Racine County ARES Emergency Coordinator website: http://www.rcares.org or call (262) 909-3996.

Other News Links

Local Ham Classes Now Forming!

One day courses are being formed in first quarter of 2008, for assisting agencies and the public to get thier ham radio license. Want to know more?

Dates of classses

Contact Jim Markstrom KB9MMA EC@RCARES.ORG or phone 262-909-3996








2007 Simulated Emergency Test Success

When October 6 , 2007

This year was fun and had a lot of activity! Thanks for everyone who made this a success and learning experience.

Jim Markstrom kb9mma EC Racine


Jim Markstrom (KB9MMA), EC for Racine County has put together a webpage devoted to QForms and WinLink 2000. It is very informative and I encourage you to have a look. Here is the link:

http://www.w9udu.org/wiki/index.php/Qforms_Basic_instructions_with_winlink

And, if you have not tried Winlink before, the SET would be a good time give it a go!

Skip, W9REL Asst SEC, Training

Monthly Wisconsin Section News Summary - an excerpt

Correspondence Wednesday, September 12, 2007
By Bill Niemuth KB9ENO

In Southeast Wisconsin, Racine and Kenosha County ECs, Jim Markstrom, KB9MMA, and Frank Moss, KC9ILZ, respectively, worked jointly on behalf of the Red Cross and Emergency Management in their counties to provide communications for damage assessment and evacuation shelters. I believe this was both Jim's and Frank's first activation and they stepped up to the plate! Mutual assistance was formally requested by several of the counties and all but two operating positions were staffed! This is a great tribute to the teamwork and mutual assistance training we have done in Wisconsin. In addition, these were the first significant activations we have had since the changes in responsibilities for DECs. Gary Payne, N9VE, Southwest Wisconsin DEC and Peter Sweeney, WD9JIB, Southwest Wisconsin DEC, provided district coordination and took a more significant role than any time in the past. The training pays off. In addition, early in the event Mark Smick, N9UNW, DEC West Central Wisconsin was active in determining the extent of damage in his District.

Winlink 2000 was used extensively for the first time during a Wisconsin ARES/RACES activation. Its presence provided effective e-mail reports from the field and command posts.


ARES Response - SE Wisc Floods

Correspondence Wednesday, September 05, 2007
By D. Stephen Buck

Hello to All ~

Well, the waters have receded and those effected by the floods have been taken care of thanks to all those that gave of their time and talents to help. Prominent among those were the members of the responding ARES groups.

I would like to extend a special thanks to the Racine and Kenosha ARES groups. Jim's response to my request for communications assistance was exceedingly rapid and effective. It is great to know that in those initial hours/days of a disaster operation help is available to make the difference between an effective or not so effective and organized response!

I would also like to thank the other ARES groups that responded when additional help was need to fill the requested communication needs.

So thanks to Jim and Frank and the members of ARES for a job done well, done with professionalism and enthusiasm,and done with a technical expertise that helped ensure success. They were a pleasure to work with.

Steve

D. Stephen Buck - N9EAL
n9eal@arrl.net
Communications Activity Lead
American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin

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