[W1SMH] (no subject)

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 09:56:57 -0400

I think that we should participate, Count me in.

Carlos
kb1crz

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
Behalf Of David Bodman
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 9:24 PM
To: W1SMH Mailing List
Subject: [W1SMH] (no subject)

Copied from SPARC - newletter of the Boston Amateur Radio Club

I've talked to one of the "head honchos", Frank Murphy, and he welcomes =
us
to join him, if we're available.  Sounds like a fun exercise!

David, KD4CLJ

Disaster Training Opportunity
-- Frank Murphy, N1DHW
The Salvation Army, our host for BARC meetings, has requested
the help of BARC members to support a communications
intensive exercise for the Salvation Army Emergency Response.
It is scheduled for Saturday, May 15, 2004. This exercise will
be conducted, rain or shine, at their 120 acre youth camp, Camp
Wonderland, in Sharon, MA, from 0900 through mid-afternoon.
Hams will support the Sharon EOC, the Communications Vehicle,
a message center, the staging area, and Disaster Canteens.
Shadow supports for key staff will also be provided. Partial day
commitment is acceptable since this will afford us practice in
relief operations.
Lunch, drinks, and snacks will be provided during the day. An
evening meal, prepared on-site from the 50 ft. Salvation Army
Regional Disaster Kitchen, will be offered to all volunteers. This
same mobile unit served thousands at the WTC.
This all radio exercise is designed to test the teamwork and
performance of new members of the local Salvation Army
Disaster Services Organization (DSO). All of the DSO team
members have completed Basic ICS training courses, and many
were at WTC. However, this is the first time for all Massachusetts
DSO teams to respond and work together at a local disaster event
under the Incident Command structure. Their further limitation is
that they will have to rely on only radio communications. No cell
phones will be permitted!
This will be a great test of both our SATERN and BERT members
to provide the communications support we promise to our hosts,
and advertise to the community in general. Our plans are for
BERT to manage all field radio operations, including the new
mobile Communications Van. Most radio communications will
use simplex frequencies, with some local repeater backup.
In addition to the hams, the Salvation Army is calling for many
general Disaster Volunteers. Hands-on field training will be
conducted in non-ham response support activities. These will
include canteen operation, mass feeding, shelter setup and
operation, and other related tasks needed in supporting any major
disaster response agency.
While this exercise is not an ARES scheduled event, ARES
Leadership participation and the use of ARES resources have been
requested. Members from the ARES EC staff, and local and state
emergency management have been invited as official observers to
critique the drill.
Do you need time with your family? If they are old enough to
safely manage themselves without your supervision, bring them
along. They can be actors for the day. No disaster exercise looks
real unless there are "victims." Plans are to assemble some
"simulated victims" and create real life scenarios as part of the
responder's training. Give your family a chance to see what
you've been training for and what you do. At the same time they
can enjoy the day outdoors at Camp Wonderland.
Ham volunteers are asked to contact either Blake, K1BTH, Frank,
N1DHW, or Bill Foley, KB1GLF (info below) to support this
worthwhile event. BARC and BERT members who respond will
be contacted and given more information as plans for the exercise
are updated. Your early response will help in our planning.
As a club, we've accepted their generosity - now it's time to give
back. At the same time we can prepare ourselves for potentially
dangerous times ahead in this summer's Boston area events.
To view Camp Wonderland, go to:
http://community.webshots.com/user/n1dhw
Frank Murphy, N1DHW, Massachusetts SATERN Coordinator
[email protected]
Blake Haskell, K1BTH, BARC Emergency Response Team
(BERT) Leader
[email protected]
Bill Foley, KB1GLF, Salvation Army - Mass. Emergency
Services Coordinator
[email protected]

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