I second Lee’s comments, as an active fire service radio officer myself. We still have a role to play. It goes deeper though. Many of our Southeastern PA area ARES units do not have the operational skills and technical savvy our ARES groups had at least 20 years ago or more. Lots of the newer hams are generous with their time and are anxious to serve, but the war stories I could tell of trained ARES members (newer hams) not being able to do much but use a PTT radio set up in advance for them is disheartening. Many have no concept of typical Public safety radio systems, no background in radio or electronics at all either. If supplying backup, hams are expected to have crisp radio operating skills just like the people we serve in an emergency. Out of 30 members there might be 5 who can instill confidence in first responders when the chips are down, or figure out how to use a modern trunking portable in 2 minutes. We are expected to be radio operators, not just hams with their own radio band. The hams that come through for us are the ones that have been there and done that for 30 years. Back in the day public safety groups would seek out hams in the field to see if they could fix a line printer on the truck, or busted mic cord on a scene or whatever, as the gadget go-to guys. We usually could make things work when in the mud, the blood and the beer (with apologies to Johnny Cash). The guys in my neck of the woods here that made us proud have aged out and/or gone SK. So, I guess we stay in the fight with training and hopefully with better leadership and broader-based radio training. Having said that, my local county still has amateur radio built in to their several different comm vans (I helped spec out) like the vans in the video clip. Bob Famiglio, K3RF Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division 610-359-7300 www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Lee Cooper Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2020 4:41 PM To: Michael Ritz <w7vo@comcast.net> Cc: arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org Subject: [arrl-odv:30947] Re: Fwd: OREGON WILDFIRE - COML, COMT, ITSL Mike, This is the future of AR Emcom. In the past 15 years or so there has been literally billions of dollars spent on hardening infrastructure and purchasing multi-million dollar response vehicles. These vehicles can respond to communication needs of public safety literally in hours and put comms back on the air. We saw this in Hurricane Harvey and likely to a large extent even with Laura. Hell, commercial cell carriers now even have flying cell repeaters built on drones that can circle an affected area up to 16 hours providing cell and data services. While there will always be some Maria type exceptions, ARES will need to start thinking in terms of Force Multiplier, Disaster Intelligence and Situational awareness versus "When all else fails" backup communications as our prime mission. It is becoming a different world and we will need to have a different mind set on how to train and prepare to be of service to our served agencies. Lee Lee H. Cooper, PMP, CKM, CKF, CSM, ITILv3, LSSGB, W5LHC Vice Director, West Gulf Division ARRL - National Association of Amateur Radio w5lhc@arrl.org <mailto:w5lhc@arrl.org> (512) 658-3910 "He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat" - N.B. On Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at 1:13 PM Michael Ritz <w7vo@comcast.net <mailto:w7vo@comcast.net> > wrote: This is mostly for the members of the upcoming new EmComm Standing Committee. FEMA is looking for help in the Oregon wildfires, but only COML and COMT, and ITSL trained. (See below) As far as I know no ARES units have been asked to help in Oregon despite cell towers being destroyed and fire comms infrastructure being disrupted. Here may be one of the reasons why: https://www.kptv.com/news/how-firefighters-restored-communication-after-wild... 73; Mike W7VO ---------- Original Message ---------- From: "FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)" <fema@service.govdelivery.com <mailto:fema@service.govdelivery.com> > To: w7vo@arrl.org <mailto:w7vo@arrl.org> Date: 09/14/2020 6:06 PM Subject: OREGON WILDFIRE - COML, COMT, ITSL NEW INFORMATION REQUEST FOR OREGON: Region 10 RECCWG members, as you know, Oregon is currently under a State of Emergency for significant wildfires burning thousands of acres and damaging and destroying many communications sites. Numerous people have been evacuated and the Oregon Governor states they are preparing for a mass fatality incident based on the number of structures that have been lost. Oregon is looking at the availability of Communications Unit Leaders (COML), Communications Unit Technicians (COMT) and Information Technology Service Unit Leader (ITSL). Prefer “red carded” but not required. Looking at fire positions AND all-hazards positions. Should be trained, able to meet “light” physical fitness level and able to handle some work near the fireline (smoke in the area). There is not a specific need at this moment, but the Oregon ESF-2 lead anticipates there may be in the near future. The RX RECCWG is supporting the state of Oregon in seeking information on any agency that COML, COMT and/or ITSLs that could potentially EMAC them to Oregon for this fight. This is only an inquiry, please follow the guidance below. To avoid added traffic by those coordinating EMAC, please follow the guidance below. If you can support in any way please reply to fema-r10-recc@fema.dhs.gov <mailto:fema-r10-recc@fema.dhs.gov> with the following: * Your name * Contact Information * State and agency/jurisdiction * Certification (COML, COMT, ITSL) * Red card? (yes or no) * Training source (NWCG, DHS, other) * Date could be available * Deployment duration limitations (# days you could deploy) Region 10 RECCWG appreciates any assistance you can provide or forwarding this message to anyone you know that may have radios available to support. Please DO NOT DEPLOY unless contacted specifically by the State of Oregon. 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