[FLARES] Sarasota County Tactical Search & Rescue Drill - June 4, 2003

[Ron Wetjen]

Sarasota County held it's yearly "Tactical Search & Rescue Drill", and
as in years past, Amateur Radio operators provided the primary
communications for this drill, dubbed "Hurricane Jay".

Amateurs were first sent to deploy one of their Communications Trailers
to the "incident" scene in Northern Sarasota County to establish a
communications command post and emergency net.

Other Amateurs were then sent to "staging areas" to meet up with their
assigned Task Force.  These Amateurs would ride with the "Task Force
Leader" and be the main communications link between the various Task
Forces and the Command Post.  Upon instructions from the Command Post,
these Task Forces would deploy to the incident scene or to a secondary
"staging area".  Once the teams were deployed to the Incident Scene,
they would perform certain tasks, such as dealing with downed power
lines or debris in the road.  Each team would be monitored and graded on
their performance.  Once they had completed their course, they left the
Incident scene and another Task Force would arrive to carry out their tasks.

A total of six Task Forces were deployed at different times from
Northern Sarasota County, as well as from Southern Sarasota County
(North Port and Venice).  The 145.130 MHz repeater was used to
communicate with the teams in staging and enroute from the Southern part
of the county, switching over to the 146.730 MHz repeater at a
predetermined landmark.  The Northern Sarasota County teams used 146.730
MHz throughout.

Once a Task Force arrived on the Incident Scene, communications moved to
145.520 MHz simplex, leaving the repeaters open for communications with
the other Task Forces that were either staged or enroute.  146.555 MHz
and 146.580 MHz were also established as backup frequencies for
communications with the Task Forces, but were not needed.  We also had
communications with commanders in the field, using the Division of
Forestry "Blue" channel.  This frequency was used to get instructions
from commanders to pass along to the Task Forces.

A briefing with the drill commanders followed the "drill" and the
Amateurs received high marks for the professional manner in which they
handled their communications duties.  The "Logistics" officer was also
impressed with the "log keeping" (all communications from the Command
Post to the Task Forces are logged on an ICS 214 form).  When he asked
for information, we were able to look it up on the log sheet and provide
him an answer.

Amateurs who provided communications for the "Sarasota County Emergency
Management Amateur Communications" team included:

Jim Frey, W8ISZ - Command Post Net Control, Communications Leader
Ron Wetjen, WD4AHZ - Command Post Net Control
Jon Link, K4III - Command Post "Blue" Channel
Ed Gansen, K8DSS - Operations Chief Shadow, Communications Leader
Al Alviani, N4LML - ICS Liaison/Logistics (RACES Director)
Ken Hoffert, KV4USA - Task Force 3, Doctor's Hospital, Sarasota
Bill Norris, KC7TSG - Task Force 6, Mullen Center, North Port
Bob Davisson, KA4BOB - Task Force 1/7, Robarts Arena, Sarasota
Roxena Doyle, W1ROX - Task Force 4, Venice Police Department, Venice
Eddie Palmer, K4JP - Task Force 5, Taylor Ranch Elem. School, Venice
Glenn Alvord, KL7HX - Task Force 2, Oak Park School, Sarasota
Dave Luehr, K9DAV - Command Post/Runner
Dave Armbrust, AE4MR - Command Post/Runner (WCF Section Manager)
Jay Goley, AJ4UF - Command Post/Runner

Amateurs contributed 101 man-hours to this event.

73, Ron  WD4AHZ