State of California OES ACS Newsletter

January 6, 2003

Published weekly (except for vacations and emergencies) by the Auxiliary Communications Service, State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

Articles in this Issue
Hams help out in telephone emergency
FEMA Awards Fire Departments
EMMCOM Bulletin 375

Hams help out in telephone emergency
courtesy ARRL website)
Hams help out during OK telephone emergency
ARRL Bulletin 3 ARLB003 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT January 3, 2003

Hams responded with emergency communication when Broken Arrow, OK, a town of 75,000, experienced a citywide telephone outage on December 23. A request went out for amateurs to assist with emergency effort at the local Emergency Operations Center and three area hospitals.

Several hams from the Broken Arrow Amateur Radio Club responded to the call, staffing positions at the Broken Arrow EOC and three hospital emergency rooms.

The operation lasted about five hours, with messages between the EOCs and hospitals being passed. Lines of communications were also opened with the Oklahoma State Department of Civil Emergency Management in Oklahoma City via the HF amateur station in the Broken Arrow EOC.

The trouble with the phone system was created by the loss of SS7 signaling, a digital protocol for call routing. Unable to route a call out of the local exchange, Broken Arrow phone customers could not call outside the city limits. As a result, the City of Broken Arrow implemented its Telecommunications Failure Plan.

-----

FEMA Awards Fire Departments
Release No.: 02-252 Release Date: December 23, 2002

THE LARGEST ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANT AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT IS MADE BY FEMA AND THE USFA

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Fire Administration (USFA) are pleased to announce the eleventh (11th) round of 2002 Assistance to Firefighter Grant Awards for 734 fire departments. The monetary investment announced in this round approaches $42 million for fire departments throughout the United States.

"With this round, the eleventh, we announce the largest number of grant awards in the two year history of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. As we near the end of the 2002 program, and begin our focus on the 2003 program, I would like to ask all men and women of the nation's fire service, to join the USFA in promoting and achieving a fire safe Holiday season for all citizens of this nation," said USFA Administrator R. David Paulison.

President Bush and the Congress have made this significant investment possible through the USFA, which is a part of FEMA. These funds will be used by the nation's firefighters to increase the effectiveness of firefighting operations, improve fire fighter health and safety programs, purchase new fire apparatus, enhance EMS programs, and support Fire Prevention and Safety Programs. FEMA and the USFA expect to announce a total of at least 5500 grants before the end of the calendar year. The total of all awards, when completed, will represent a $360M investment to enhance fire and EMS service delivery nationwide.

The Assistance for Firefighters Grant Program assists rural, urban and suburban fire departments throughout the United States. A list of all current award recipients announced to date is posted on the USFA web site at www.usfa.fema.gov/grants. Future grant recipients will be listed as awards are made. These departments can expect to receive their financial packages on or about Jan. 1, 2003

------

EMMCOM Bulletin 375 EMC375 EMCOMM Officers Hdbk 9
To: Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To: Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By: Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

EMC375 EMCOMM Officers Hdbk 9 Release 1/6/03

EXERCISE OR INCIDENT OPERATION MOBILIZATION AND INITIAL FOLLOW-UP PROCEDURES

In the event that the EMCOMM unit leader is called on to help organize mutual aid assistance or emergency communications, the following procedures should be followed as closely as possible. Some of these may vary depending on the circumstances surrounding the specific incident. Also, a specific procedure may be custom to a particular unit, such as one that may have an "Active Duty Officer" designee for each week (or similar.)

1. (Agency Name) will notify the EMCOMM unit leader or his alternate and order or request mobilization of the EMCOMM unit. The first person on the list that is notified will act in that persons stead until he/she can be reached.

2. Initiate the pre-determined call-up procedures.

3. The first person notified by the unit leader is responsible to insure the call-up is completed and personnel are informed of the current information. (Again, local customized systems may apply, as where there is an agency paging system for example.)

4. Set up the initial work schedule while the call-up is being completed. (This may require an assistant to be assigned to follow up on the personnel not initially contacted via the call-up procedures.)

5. If the EMCOMM response team is depleted then you will have to go to adjacent county or Region for mutual aid (with authorization) for assistance. Set up an ongoing schedule for assistance (also via mutual aid from authorized local/county government organizations) or operators as the situation requires.

6. Obtain incident mutual aid assistance via, first, the telephone or if necessary assign an operator to go to the correct resource net frequency, or repeater, for the incident if required. (But, be careful of attracting those convergent volunteers that may show up unannounced just "because they heard it on a repeater" - meaning there is the need to carefully phrase all public information.)

7. Using the MUTUAL AID OPERATIONS CHECK LIST (bulletin 377, Hdbk 11), make an initial evaluation of the requirements vs resources with the incident EMCOMM unit resource manager.

8. Keep a log or documentation trail of all details.

9. The Agency OES Manager or Comm Coordinator (or an EMCOMM unit officer with their permission) will contact the government agency official first, to ask if their EMCOMM unt resources can be called up or go on standby to provide mutual aid.

10. Once permission is given allow time for the agency official to contact their EMCOMM unit leader before making contact.

The EMCOMM Unit Leader and trained alternates from the EMCOMM Unit staff is to manage the entire operation at all times, with the exception of a local situation where a paid staff person may be required to handle that function. Only when there is a need for an operator or manager that no one else can fulfill, or for training purposes, does the EMCOMM unit lead staff to go into the field. When this occasion occurs, responsibilities will be turned over to a trained alternate until such time as the staff member can return to their primary duties. The unit's lead officers must always be within reach of the OES Manager or Comm Coordinator (or other local title of agency paid staff.)

When personnel are sent to the field, insure that they have valid resource orders with the appropriate identifications numbers, such as a incident and resource order mission number and the responding mutual aid agency resource order mission number.

Continues next bulletin: INCIDENT INFORMATION AND WORKING WITH THE MEDIA

Submitting News and Articles:
Send news and articles for the "ACS Newsletter" to the editor: Gary Crowe, Ph.D. KG6HIM.

Forwarding/Subscribing/Unsubscribe:
To avoid subscribing and unsubscribe confusion, please do not automatically forward the "ACS Newsletter" to other readers. If you forward a particular issue, attach a note that it is forwarded, and refer to the instructions below on how to subscribe.

"ACS Newsletter" and "EMCOMM Bulletin"
Subscription URL: http://www.cesra.com/subscribe/

"ACS Newsletter"
Subscription: acs-newsletter-sub@cesra.org (send message from address where you will receive Newsletters)

"EMCOMM Bulletin"
Subscription: emcomm-bulletin-sub@cesra.org (send message from address where you will receive Bulletins

"ACS Newsletter"
Cancellation: acs-newsletter-unsub@cesra.org (send message from old address)

"EMCOMM Bulletin"
Cancellation: emcomm-bulletin-unsub@cesra.org (send message from old address) Look for a confirming E-mail message, and reply within 24 hours.
If your old address is not available for unsubscribe, or if the above procedures do not work, send message to listmaster@cesra.org, with "Manual request" in the subject line. Include old and/or new addresses in the message text.

Thanks to the ACS List master, Mark Hartman, AA6MH, for this fine service.

Links/Chats/Lists/Contacts
California OES
California OES ACS
National RACES
ICQ RACES Chat Room: ICQ#40163274 (Sundays 1000-1200 Pacific Time)
RACES Mailing List:
"ACS Newsletters" since 2/07/1998
"EMCOMM Bulletins" since 1/3/2000:

California OES ACS HQ facility contact information: Auxiliary Communications Service Program, Room A-139 Governor's Office of Emergency Services P.O. Box 419047, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741-9047

Copyright 2002 by State of California OES ACS. All or any part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or quoted, provided that credit be given to this issue of the State of California "ACS Newsletter."

Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of State of California OES ACS. State of California Office of Emergency Services and its "ACS Newsletter" editor, Gary Crowe, Ph.D. KG6HIM, do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained herein, regardless of whether such errors result from negligence, accident, or any other cause whatsoever.

73, Gary Crowe, Ph.D. "ACS Newsletter" Editor State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services Operations Support Branch Auxiliary Communications Service Tel: (916) 489-8709 Fax: (916) 488-0148 E-mail: