The
November meeting of ARES of Champaign County was held Wednesday,
November 1, 2006 at the Fire Service Institute. Here are
important notes from that meeting and other news.
ATTENDING
N9XDC, N9DN, KC9JVR, K9SI, KC9HXY, K9LMM, WB9HFK, KC9IHX, W9EML, AB9FJ, KF8ZN, N9GPA, KC9HND, KB9TIQ, KC9KGJ (15)
TABLETOP EXERCISE
We ran a "deployment" tabletop exercise at the November 2 meeting.
The scenario revolved around a tornado causing severe damage in Philo
and Sidney and the subsequent emergency response. Participants
were divided into two teams. One team had to determine what
personnel were needed, who was available, and develop a schedule for
the locations that need to be staffed. The second team was
charged with determining what equipment and material resources would be
needed to support the personnel responding. After both teams
completed their assignments, we discussed the results and where changes
and adjustments might be be made. There were some good ideas that came
out of the discussion, among them ways to make scheduling personnel
easier and how non-ARES hams could be utilized to assist in such a
situation.
CHANGES AT CHAMPAIGN RED CROSS OFFICE
Deb Fruitt, who has served as Disaster Services Coordinator here in
the Champaign office, is leaving the Red Cross to pursue new challenges
with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District as the Director of
Chronic Disease and Health Promotion beginning November 6. Transition
teams will take care of the disaster response responsibilities until
Deb's replacement is found, with oversight by Billy Woodward, Director
of Emergency Services in the Peoria office.
I'd like to thank Deb for all of her efforts in supporting an excellent
working relationship between ARC and amateur radio in Champaign County.
We wish Deb all the best in her new position!
CONCERN OVER RED CROSS BACKGROUND CHECKS ON VOLUNTEERS
The American Red Cross has recently notified their local chapters
that their volunteers and staff members must submit to a criminal
background check. The list of volunteers who are being asked to submit
to the background checks has been expanded to include volunteers with
other organizations who assist the Red Cross during times of disaster
relief efforts,
such as amateur radio operators volunteering through their local ARES
unit. However, there is serious concern over the level of information
that volunteers are asked to agree allow access to, which includes a
credit and consumer check. This is far more information than is needed
for a criminal background check.
The ARRL is urging amateurs to be very careful
before agreeing to such a background check. In a press release from the
ARRL, ARRL President Joel Harrison stated "The Red Cross is requiring
volunteers to grant permission for more than just a criminal background
check." They are also requiring permission to draw a consumer and/or
investigative consumer report on the volunteer." Harrison said that
could also include a credit check and a mode-of-living check.
"The Red Cross has stated that they will not use credit reports," he
noted. "Requiring that volunteers authorize the procurement of a credit
report is inconsistent with this assurance." The on-line application
allows applicants to request a copy of any consumer report resulting
from its background investigation."
You can view the ARRL statement on this recent policy at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/RC-Background-Checks0610.pdf
. We are still trying to get more clarification on this, and I
would suggest that you do not do anything until we have more
information.
SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY
The 2006 SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) will be held on December 2,
2006, from 0000 to 2400 GMT. The National Weather Service
utilizes SRD to show appreciation to amateur radio operators who
support operations during critical weather days. This will be the
eighth consecutive year that SRD will take place. More
information can be found at the national web site: http://hamradio.noaa.gov.
The link includes a list of participating offices, information on QSL
cards, and other info. Last year, the Lincoln, IL office had 543
QSOs, worked 49 states, and 53 NWS offices. Their 543 QSOs was
the fifth highest total in the country, tied with Buffalo, NY.
The Grand Junction, CO topped all offices with 1374 QSOs
UPDATE ON FEMA TRAINING
As of November 2, 18 CCARES members have completed ICS-100, 16 have
completed ICS-700, 9 completions of ICS-200, and 6 completions of
ICS-800.
Remember that under the requirements of NIMS, all participants, even volunteers, are required to have some basic training for NIMS. The two courses required, as a minimum, for volunteers are FEMA IS-100: Introduction to the Incident Command System and FEMA IS-700: National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction.
Under current regulations the first two courses must be completed. If
they are not completed, you will not be allowed to work with Champaign
County EMA as an ARES volunteer in an emergency or disaster response.
This may also extend to working with the Red Cross in such disasters.
More information and links to the FEMA Emergency Management Institute can be found on the WA9RES web site.
When you complete any of the FEMA courses, you will need to send a copy
of your course completion certificate to me so your training file can
be updated and we have a record of your completion.
NOVEMBER NET CONTROL STATIONS
The weekly ARES net is held each Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., on the 444.100
repeater, CTSS 162.2. NOTE: The weekly net script was recently
updated - please download the latest version from the web site.
November 7 KC9HND
November 14 KC9IHX
November 21 KF8ZN
November 28 N9GPA
December 6 AB9FJ
NEXT MEETING
The next regular meeting will be on Wednesday, December 6, at 7:00
p.m. This will be our annual corporate business meeting, with election
of officers and board members. Check the web site for updated
details.