[FLARES] Hurricane "Suiter" Exercise - June 2, 2009

[Ron Wetjen]

On June 2nd, Sarasota County held their Hurricane "Suiter" exercise, as 
part of the Statewide Hurricane drill.

This exercise was designed as an EOC training opportunity for the folks 
who would be assigned there during an activation.  This included 
training with the county's resource request and tracking system, EISMax, 
as well as shift change procedures.

There wasn't any ACS communications activity planned, but ACS was 
represented during the exercise as part of the ESF-2 (Communications) 
team.  Alex, KJ4JCD, and Bob, KF4JRO, took the opportunity to get some 
"hands on" EOC training and got an idea of what happens at the EOC 
"behind the scenes" during an activation.

After the EISMax training was completed, the practice "exercise" began. 
  Phone calls started coming in and information began passing between 
the ESF positions, and all this information was entered into the EISMax 
system.  ACS received a call on the radio from a CERT team that was 
taking part in the exercise.  Bob took down the information, and then he 
and Alex entered that information into the system.

As our part of the exercise, we planned to test our "alternate" 
communications methods - primarily Winlink and Echolink.  The IT folks 
were working an issue on the computer in the radio room, which limited 
our access and we didn't get a chance to use that as much as we had 
hoped.  We did receive Winlink messages from WA2JWL (and MARS call 
AAV4TM), K9SRQ, and W8GQ.  On Echolink, K9SRQ and KA4BOB connected up to 
the EOC.

We also ran a test of the "Communicator" system, which automatically 
calls ACS members and alerts them of any ACS activities.  As a result of 
the test, we discovered 2 bad phone numbers and an old e-mail address. 
The bad numbers have been deleted and the e-mail address has been updated.

We also received a lesson on using the Satellite phone in the radio room 
from the EOC Planning Chief, Rob, KG4MNR.

During the exercise, Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp made a surprise 
visit to the EOC, and thanked the participants for their efforts.

When the "exercise" finished up, a wrap-up meeting was held and any 
questions answered.  Most participants found the EISMax training 
helpful, and liked the interaction between the various ESF 
representatives being able to help each other out with problems and the 
situations that came up.

Thanks to the following for their help and participation:

Alex, KJ4JCD
Bob, KF4JRO
Bill, WA2JWL
Bob, K9SRQ
Wayne, W8GQ
Bob, KA4BOB


Ron, WD4AHZ
EC, Sarasota County