[Ares-races] Re: [Iaem-list] North East Blackout Information

Sat, 30 Aug 2003 04:09:28 EDT

Ed and all,

       This was posted on the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) web site.  
The ARRL is the U.S. national association of amateur radio (ham) operators.  
You can go to <A HREF="www.arrl.org">www.arrl.org</A> and look for the story "A Taste of Baghdad in the 
Summer."  The author, Robert Mauro, KZ2G, is well known in the ham community and 
has had articles published previously in ham magazines.

Bill Lennox
US Air Force (Retired)
Full Time College Student (Emergency Management)
KD7EFP
Assistant Emergency Coordinator - Plans (ARES), Washington County, Oregon
Assistant Radio Officer - Plans (RACES), Washington County, Oregon

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In a message dated 8/29/2003 9:45:36 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
[email protected] writes:

> Subj: RE: [Iaem-list] North East Blackout Information 
>  Date: 8/29/2003 9:45:36 AM Pacific Daylight Time
>  From: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A>
>  To: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A>, <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">
</A>

 CC:<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"> [email protected]</A>t,<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"> [email protected]</A>g
 Sent from the Internet 

Can we "bonified" this before I forward it to State Health Care
professionals? Not being disrespectful to anyone out there, I would just
like to make sure it's not one of those "hoaxes" that float around? Ares can
you make sure this gent exist and the story is true?

It is critical that our State Health folks receive this information so we
can "target" those individuals but at the same time very embarrassing on my
end if it turns out to be some "wanna be" who published things like this.

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 6:17 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Iaem-list] North East Blackout Information

PLEASE NOTE: This is a PUBLIC discussion list; information shared on this
list is NOT secure ..........................................
A "Medically Fragile" respirator dependant ham radio operator tells how he 
managed during the blackout. 

Source:   <A
HREF="http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2003/08/27/2/?nc=1">http://www.arrl.
org/news/features/2003/08/27/2/?nc=1

A Taste of Baghdad in the Summer

By Robert Mauro, KZ2G
August 27, 2003 

An inconvenience for most, the Blackout of 2003 raised a serious set of 
concerns for people requiring electricity to breathe. 

    It was Thursday, August 14, 2003. I was watching CNN and using my 
respirator to breathe. Suddenly, the electric power went off. The next thing
I 
heard was the alarm on my respirator, which I need to stay alive. One of the

hottest days in the year and no electricity!  It was 4:12 PM and just the 
beginning of a long ordeal for me and 50 million other Americans, 10 million
with 
disabilities: we were about to experience a taste of Baghdad in summer.

    As a result of childhood polio, I require a respirator to breathe. I 
do not like power failures, especially in hot weather. I had thought all
summer 
about those folks in Baghdad with no electricity and suffering 120-degree 
temperatures. Now we'd get an inkling of what they were going through. I use
a 
motorized wheelchair to get around and for years I've been saving my chair's
old 
batteries. I use them to run my respirator during power failures and to run 
my Ten-Tec Omni 6 Plus at 5 W during Field Day. We only have one Field Day a

year, but we have several blackouts a year, usually lasting several hours.

    As during previous blackouts, I called Long Island Power Authority's 
emergency life support number for information on what caused the power
failure 
and how long it might last. I was shocked and unnerved when LIPA said the 
whole Eastern United States was out. I knew this would to be a long outage.
Would 
my four old wheelchair batteries last long enough to power my respirator?

    I called a local hospital's emergency room. They had emergency power 
and the nurse I spoke to said to come right over if I needed to plug in. But

like most folks, I preferred to stay home. I turned on my portable radio,
hoping 
to hear that the power would be on shortly. New York City Mayor Michael 
Bloomberg calmed me down by saying electric would be back in hours, not
days. 
Meanwhile, the temperature rose rapidly in my room.

    As the sun went down, my ventilator was still running on my first 
backup battery. Would it last through the night? The answer was "no." It
died 
precisely at 11:59 PM.  I quickly hooked up my second backup battery; the
first 
one had lasted nearly eight hours. Then at 12:02 AM, the lights flickered.
Then 
died. Then, at around 2 AM, they flickered on...and off again.

    Friday morning I called LIPA for an update. My second backup battery 
was already at eight hours.The LIPA spokesperson said the electric should be
on 
by that afternoon, maybe.  The weatherman was predicting another 90-degree 
day and I don't do well in heat and humidity.

    Hoping to keep cool, I stayed in bed. Finally at about 12:20 PM, the 
lights came on. Would they stay on?  I left my air conditioner off, but
turned 
on my TV. Governor George Pataki said people should only use their air 
conditioners for health reasons. I quickly turned mine on and breathed a
sigh of 
relief. I now had power and air conditioning. My taste of Baghdad in summer
was 
over!

Bob Mauro, KZ2G, has been a ham since 1965, when he was first licensed as 
WN2UHY, and soon thereafter, as WB2UHY. From his <A
HREF="http://www.geocities.com/ram9872002">Web site:"The seeds of
amateur 
radio were planted in me back in the Fifties. As a kid, I watched Captain 
Midnight on TV. I always wanted to make a communicator like he did out of a
piece 
of wire, a spoon and some tape." In 1960, at age 13, he bought a National
NC-60 
communication receiver to tune in on the world. After about of childhood 
polio and two spinal fusions in 1961, he got involved with CB radio and
later 
Amateur Radio. In the early 1970s, he helped start the Hofstra University 
disability advocacy group, People United in Support of the Handicapped.
Mauro is an 
author and painter living in Levittown, New York. He can be reached at <A
HREF="mailto:[email protected]">
[email protected].

In a message dated 8/28/2003 6:52:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
[email protected] writes:

>Subj: [Iaem-list] North East Blackout Information 
> Date: 8/28/2003 6:52:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time
> From:<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"> [email protected]</A>m
> To:<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"> [email protected]</A>m
> Sent from the Internet 
>
>PLEASE NOTE: This is a PUBLIC discussion list; information shared on this 
>list is NOT secure ..........................................
>Do any of the Emergency Management or other Emergency Services
>organizations have any numbers of the people who are "Medically Fragile"
>or who need electric powered medical devices (oxygen, nebulizers,
>medication delivery) that were severely impacted during the Northeast
>Blackout and what actions were taken, if any, by the community to meet
>their emergency needs?
>
>My community is working toward developing a process similar to those
>used in Florida to meet the unique emergency shelter needs of the
>special needs population.
>
>Once we have a plan completed, I will share this with IAEM community.
>
>Thanks for everyone's input.   
>
>Ned Wright
>Director
>Linn County Emergency Management
>50 2nd Ave Bridge
>Cedar Rapids, IA  52401
>(319) 363-2671
>email to:  [email protected]
>
>.. You received this message because you subscribed yourself to the 
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Managers. To post 
>a message, send it to [email protected].  To unsubscribe, go to  
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>
>
>_______________________________________________
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>

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Bill Lennox
US Air Force (Retired)
Full Time College Student (Emergency Management)
KD7EFP
Assistant Emergency Coordinator - Plans (ARES), Washington County, Oregon
Assistant Radio Officer - Plans (RACES), Washington County, Oregon

////////////////////////////////////////////////// Last Item 
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Bill Lennox
US Air Force (Retired)
Full Time College Student (Emergency Management)
KD7EFP
Assistant Emergency Coordinator - Plans (ARES), Washington County, Oregon
Assistant Radio Officer - Plans (RACES), Washington County, Oregon

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