[SFDXA] ARRL and FEMA Sign Agreement: Ham Radio is as Relevant as Ever

[Bill]

    ARRL and FEMA Sign Agreement: Ham Radio is as Relevant as Ever

05/25/2023

The agreement emphasizes the importance of skilled Amateur Radio 
Operators in times of crisis and the role of ARES leadership within the 
emergency communications space.

ARES (see the ARES fact sheet at www.arrl.org/ares 
<http://www.arrl.org/ares>) is a network of trained Amateur Radio 
Service licensees organized across the country to provide communications 
and other support to served agencies 
<http://www.arrl.org/served-agencies-and-partners>, such as local 
governments, hospitals, and disaster response charities. More than 
20,000 ARES volunteers actively participate in the ARRL program. In 
2022, they provided more than 420,000 labor hours of service saving 
local officials $13.4 million in personnel costs.

Each member of ARES has specialized training in emergency 
communications. Many have also completed training in the National 
Incident Management System (NIMS) in order to integrate with local 
officials during an emergency response.

In March 2023, FEMA released the final version of the NIMS Information 
and Communications Technology (ICT) Functional Guidance, which includes 
radio amateurs in the response ecosystem 
<https://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-included-in-fema-guide-for-national-emergency-preparedness> 
and national emergency preparedness.

“The agreement is representative of the continued commitment and 
cooperation between FEMA and ARRL,” said ARRL Director of Emergency 
Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV. “Serving our country during 
emergencies is an important service provided by ARES volunteers and a 
principal purpose of our Amateur Radio Service. Our well-equipped 
volunteers bring their training, use of innovative technologies, and 
community partnerships together to serve before and during disasters.”

FEMA announced the new agreement on Twitter 
<https://twitter.com/fema/status/1658921668356472839> stating, “We 
recently signed a new MOA with @arrl — establishing our partnership with 
licensed, voluntary amateur radio operators to support response [and] 
recovery efforts. We're honored to work side-by-side to meet the needs 
of millions in the wake of disasters.”

Former FEMA Administrator and ARRL member Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, led the 
agency when the previous MOA 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/fema-and-arrl-sign-agreement-fema-administrator-calls-ham-radio-resilient> 
with ARRL was signed in 2014. Fugate said the agreement underscores the 
importance of ham radio. “By incorporating amateur radio into their 
emergency plans, FEMA ensures that they have access to a network of 
trained operators who can establish and maintain communication links 
when traditional infrastructure fails. This collaboration between FEMA 
and Amateur Radio Operators allows for more robust and resilient 
emergency communication capabilities, ultimately contributing to 
effective disaster response and recovery,” said Fugate.

“The ARRL Board and the Emergency Communications and Field Services 
Committee are committed to strengthening our resourcefulness to the 
EmComm (emergency communications) community,” said ARRL President Rick 
Roderick, K5UR. “Our partnership with FEMA helps further ARRL’s work to 
better serve our volunteers, partner agencies, and the country.”


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/sfdxa/attachments/20230525/1fce75c1/attachment.html>