From time to time I see online emergency management discussion threads on whether it is important it is to have Amateur Radio operators available as an emergency backup communications system. While emergency managers in areas subject to frequent, large disasters tend to be convinced of the need, some managers in more fortunate areas have mixed views.

One jurisdiction that remains convinced of this need is the State of Oregon, which is subject to forest fires, flash floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, not to mention the same disasters that we face in District 3. The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) within the Oregon Military Department (OMD) currently has an opening for a civilian Communications Officer. In addition to the typical required skills, one requested skill is an Amateur Radio license, or the ability to obtain such a license.

Generally, Amateurs may not receive compensation for their ham activities, but an exception has been made for licensed emergency response personnel using ham equipment during disasters. The person hired for this Oregon position would be just such an exception.

2. U Pittsburgh-Disaster Preparedness

Today we are revisiting the Coursera website at www.coursera.org , which is continuously being updated. Our focus will be on a relevant new offering from the University of Pittsburgh – Disaster Preparedness https://www.coursera.org/course/disasterprep .

This course, which begins on Monday, January 26^th,concentrates on the Mitigation phase of the disaster cycle. Like most recommendations I make, it can be taken at no cost, although everyone interested in taking it should at least investigate the $49 Verified Certificate option. Disaster Preparedness lasts for six weeks and requires two to four hours of study per week. Suggested readings, along with an introductory video, are listed on the course web pages.

The course instructor is Dr. Michael Beach, an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and an Emergency Medicine Nurse Practitioner. So those taking this class should expect to learn about disaster preparedness from a medical standpoint.

3. NE Ohio Phone outage

Shortly after 6 PM on Tuesday, January 13^th Columbiana, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit Counties in northeast Ohio experienced an AT&T service failure. Part of this story has been published at www.arrl.org , but I had access to some other tidbits of information that did not make it into that article.

Internet, data and telephone services were lost, including 911 lines. Around 7 PM the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency, using a cell phone, requested the Ohio Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to activate Columbiana County’s Emergency Alert System (EAS). The Ohio EOC was unable to accomplish this, so the request was fulfilled by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Cleveland.

At 9:20 PM Time Warner Cable in Stark County reached an Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) dispatcher in another county to report that they were receiving 911 calls via their Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) lines that they could no longer forward to the local 911 center or to the Stark County OSHP post.

Communications between the affected county emergency managers and the Ohio EOC was gradually reestablished using the MARCS ECOMM-1 talk group. AT&T reported that most of their customers were back in service by 4 AM Wednesday. Again, to get the ARES side of this failure of technology story visit the ARRL website.

4. Monitoring Emergency Operations in the NE

Lessons learned from disaster responses elsewhere can be very useful. This week’s east coast blizzard provided such opportunities for those of us fortunate enough to be outside of the affected area.

I’ve mentioned Broadcastify (www.broadcastify.com) before as a way to monitor first responders via the internet. This week I used it to listen to the blizzard on Cape Cod. I discovered that medic units and law enforcement were relying on private wreckers with mounted snow plows to reach rural locations, allowing the heavy duty local government plows to work on clearing main roads without interruption.

If internet access is a problem at your location, there are alternatives. WBZ in Boston could be heard on 1030 AM, while WABC, 770 AM, WCBS, 880 AM and WINS, 1010 AM, covered the blizzard from New York City. All of these stations could be heard after dark from Springfield with a good AM radio.

If internet access isn’t a problem for you, each of these stations is also streaming content using one or more links available on their station websites.

5. OSU Severe WX Symposium 6 March 15

One activity that I try to publicize each year is the Ohio State University Meteorology Club’s Severe Weather Symposium. Their 19^th such event is scheduled for Friday, March 6^th in the US Bank Conference Theater at the Ohio Union in Columbus. This complex is located on the south side of the OSU campus on the west side of High Street.

The Severe Weather Symposium is free, although parking in the adjoining garages will run $11.25 to attend the full 9 AM to 5 PM symposium. When you register to attend you might consider supporting this student club through the online purchase of a souvenir. Lunch will be available either in the Union or at restaurants across High Street.

One scheduled speaker most of us would recognize is Mike Bettes from the Weather Channel. There is also a scheduled presenter from our ARES District – Bryan Wood from Assurant Special Property in Springfield, who will discuss hail insurance losses and the Dayton area. Other presenters from the National Weather Service, broadcast television and emergency management are also scheduled.

To obtain more information or to register for the symposium, go to http://u.osu.edu/metclub/symposium/ or to the Wilmington, Ohio National Weather Service at http://www.weather.gov/images/iln/symposium_2015.png .

6. 3 New ARC Courses

The American Red Cross has released three new online training courses. Concept of Operations: An Overview is intended for all Red Cross paid and volunteer staff, as well as Red Cross external partners. As an ARES volunteer, you would be considered such an external partner. This course presents a brief, 18 minute explanation of the new Concept of operations: Program Essentials. Please note that it goes by very quickly, and I recommend the frequent use of the pause button to give you time to absorb the information. Red Cross staff should register for this course through https://classes.redcross.org/Saba/Web/Main in order to receive course credit, while external partners should take the training at http://youtu.be/ND8pu1zGQHU .

The other two courses, Operations Planning Fundamentals and Incident Reporting Fundamentals, are intended for Red Cross paid and volunteer staff working in such disaster support positions as Public Affairs, Government Relations or Disaster Fundraising. These require roughly one hour each, and can be found on the Red Cross website noted above.

7. AuxComm course May 2015

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) will once again offer their Auxiliary Communications, or AuxComm course, in conjunction with Hamvention® 2015. Registration for this intensive three days of emergency communications training opened on February 1^st and closes on May 1^st or whenever the class fills, whichever comes first. The actual training is held somewhere in the greater Dayton area in the days just prior to Hamvention®.

Just who is qualified to take the AuxComm course? The first 50 applicants who submit copies of the following documents electronically to COMU@hq.dhs.gov : A valid and current Federal Communications Commission Amateur Radio Service license, and certificates of completion for each of the following Emergency Management Institute Independent Study Courses: IS-100b, IS-200b, IS-700a and IS-800b. These can be found at training.fema.gov/is/.

AuxComm classes can fill up rapidly. Mine drew students from as far away as Guam, which is as far away as you can get and still be on US territory! For further information on this AuxComm offering see the Hamvention® website at hamvention.org .

8. Natural Hazards Center

Have you ever heard of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado’s Boulder Campus? Despite its name, the Center conducts all-hazards disaster research into mitigation, planning, response and recovery issues.

They publish the Natural Hazards Observer six times a year and the Natural Hazards Review quarterly. In addition, they offer a variety of other reports and books. Many of these items may be downloaded at no cost from their website, www.colorado.edu/hazards while other texts are offered for sale.

In addition to the publications, the Center conducts an annual hazards workshop in July, sponsors scholarships and awards, and hosts a research library. I have found their website both useful and interesting for over a decade.

Switching topics, this is a final reminder that the OSU Meteorology Club’s 19^th Annual Severe Weather Symposium is this Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM at the Ohio Union on OSU’s main campus. A link to this symposium is available at Wilmington’s National Weather Service home page, www.weather.gov/iln/ .

9. School Based Incident Crisis Management Class

On Monday, March 30^th and Tuesday, March 31^st emergency planners, school employees, law enforcement and other community stakeholders will be offered the opportunity to take the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium’s Crisis Management for School-Based Incidents for Key Decision Makers (MGT-417) at Graham High School near St. Paris, Ohio. This two-day 8AM to 5PM course, funded and approved by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is a follow-up to the Consortium’s awareness-level courses, also titled Crisis Management for School-Based Incidents (AWR-148 and AWR-148-W).

First responders, school employees and community stakeholders are encouraged to register for this course by 5 PM on Monday, March 16^th. To register you must first obtain a FEMA Student ID number at https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid/ . Then go to www.ruraltraining.org or call 1-877-855-7372 to register or obtain additional information. And in most cases, you must be an American citizen in order to attend RDPC courses.

While visiting the RDCP website, look over the other courses offered. Some are available online, while others may require some travel in order to attend.

10. The Pillowcase Project

The American Red Cross is introducing a new family of emergency and disaster training programs targeted at third through fifth graders. This series, known as the Pillowcase Project, prepares these youth for a variety of emergencies and disasters that may occur in their communities. Of course, this list of possibilities will vary from location to location.

Pillowcase Project programs are designed to be between 40 and 60 minutes in length, and are presented by properly trained paid and volunteer Red Cross staff. The two Red Cross chapters in Ohio ARES District 3 are the Dayton Area Chapter and the Northern Miami Valley Ohio Chapter, and both should soon be seeking volunteers to make Pillowcase Project presentations in their jurisdictions. If you have a few hours to spare for training, and would be interested in volunteering to better prepare your communities for emergencies and disasters, contact the Executive Director of your local Red Cross chapter and ask to be added to a future Pillowcase Project training session.

11. FEMA IS-288.A Course

The Emergency Management Institute (EMI), one of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) three educational facilities, recently updated independent study course IS-288.A: The Role of Voluntary Organizations in Emergency Management. Since the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is just such a volunteer organization, the content of this course should be relevant to anyone checking into this net or visiting the District 3 web site.

To download IS-288.A course materials at no charge, or to take the final exam, go to http://training.fema.gov/is . The link to this course is currently about the middle of this page. Later you may have to dig into the site a little to reach it.

A major change is coming to the FEMA Independent Study program on April 1^st (please note that this is not an April Fools’ Day gag!). Anyone taking the final exam for an Independent Study course must first obtain a FEMA Student Identification Number (SID). This number replaces your Social Security Number, which was formerly what FEMA used for identification purposes. You may obtain your SID at FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness secure website, https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid .

12. Daily Operations Briefings

I would like to begin by stating that tonight’s program is not an April Fools’ Day gag. At the present time I receive four daily emailed reports on disaster operations in the United States, two from Red Cross and two from FEMA.

Smallest is the National Operations Brief from the U.S. Fire Administration. Today’s brief was just two pages long, and included such information as fire weather warnings, a small space weather report, new disaster declarations, weather forecasts and health information. Anyone should be able to subscribe at no cost at www.usfa.fema.gov . Click the EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS link in the upper right of the home page.

The American Red Cross offers the Disaster Services Operation Morning Report, and the Daily Disaster Update for the use of their paid and volunteer staff. Today’s Morning Report was five pages of new and ongoing incidents involving the Red Cross. Today’s Update is nineteen pages of disaster information in-depth from Red Cross, FEMA and other sources. Subscriptions to either or both of these can be arranged from The Exchange, an internal Red Cross site. Contact your Red Cross Chapter for access.

Finally, there’s the FEMA Daily Operations Briefing. The Briefing is similar in size and content to the Red Cross Daily Disaster Update, but directed to a FEMA audience rather than Red Cross staff. I don’t have a correct subscription procedure, but Ron, W8ILC may be able to assist. Drop him an email at w8ilc@aol.com .

13. FEMA NTED Catalog

It’s been a while since I brought up the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Training and Education Division (NTED) Catalog, so this may be a good time to return to it. A number of older course offerings are being retired, while a few new ones are gradually being added.

The NTED Catalog is now offered as both a downloadable .pdf file and a searchable online document. To reach either, go to the home page of the secure website https://www.firstrespondertraining.gov . Note that this catalog is updated as needed, and may be different from one day to the next. The latest update is noted on the cover of the .pdf version.

Currently there are over 90 hours of online cybersecurity classes here, as well as about twenty-four hours of more rarely offered classroom opportunities. Despite the retired courses, there are still enough online selections to occupy your free time for many months. Note that there are a few courses that are only offered to sworn police officers, which still might include a few of us.

14. ARES E-Letter

Today’s arrival of the online ARRL ARES E-Letter reminded me that I haven’t mentioned this resource for some time. Editor Rick Palm, K1CE covers a wide range of ARES related news and topics, including ARES activations, exercises, training and conferences. New hardware and software of particular ARES interest or value comes up as well. Some of the topics can be controversial, and some of the advice offered by readers isn’t always perfect, so Rick makes provisions for reader feedback as well.

A subscription to the ARES E-Letter is free to ARRL members. Go to www.arrl.org , sign in using your username and password, choose Edit Your Profile directly below the password, choose Edit E-mail Subscriptions, choose The ARES E-Letter and Save your changes.

Also note that there is a voice version of each E-Letter available at www.arrl.org/ares-e-letter-audio-version . I did note that there may be a delay before the voice version is released.

15. Unfit to Help?

The Spring 2015 edition of Emergency Management magazine, like most issues of this quarterly publication, has a number of valuable articles. One that might be of particular interest to ARES volunteers is Unfit to Help?, a debate regarding the need for volunteer background checks in the emergency management field.

Unfit to Help? notes that people in crisis often constitute a more vulnerable population than those in routine situations. Some jurisdictions use this as a reason for background checks, while others note that many bad actors have no criminal history and would slip through anyway.

Everyone admits that background checks cost money, and some agencies choose not to check for purely financial reasons. Other agencies see this as short sighted, as the legal liabilities of a single incident caused by an unchecked volunteer can offset the cost of thousands of such checks.

For this spirited debate and other articles, go to www.emergencymgmt.com and check out the site for yourself.

16. National Academies Press

In my continuing effort to prove that few people are cheaper than I am, I have located a source of disaster books that can be downloaded and/or printed for free as PDF files. That source is the National Academies Press, http://www.nap.edu .

The National Academies Press publishes the work of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, all congressionally chartered institutions. At roughly 200 new titles per year, over 5000 books may now be downloaded at no cost.

A couple of recent titles are: Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters, and Enabling Rapid and Sustainable Public Health Research During Disasters. There are many more disaster titles listed.

Registering to download on the NAP site is simple and quick, and will include access to optional emails of future publications.

17. Odds and Ends

This week I have a few odds and ends to share. For those who follow tropical systems, Ana, first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, may develop as early as tomorrow just off the coast of Florida. The National Hurricane Center at www.nhc.noaa.gov is the place to track this storm.

Last week I mentioned the Institute of Medicine as one of several sources of free disaster publications through the National Academies Press. Effective July 1^st the Institute of Medicine will become the National Academy of Medicine to better integrate its mission with those of the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Engineering. The free publications should continue to be available through the National Academies Press.

Tomorrow morning the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, or GDAHA, will conduct Blowing in the Wind, a regional tornado exercise. GDAHA, hospitals, Red Cross, emergency management agencies, health departments and ARES elements are involved. Action should take place between 8 AM and Noon.

Almost every training opportunity I’ve mentioned since I started these programs has been free of charge. Is anyone out there interested in hearing about training opportunities that might involve some fees? If not, I don’t plan to waste your time with options no one wants. Call N8QHV after any Ohio District 3 ARES net closes.

18. Psychological First Aid

Anyone responding to disasters, and even smaller emergencies, could benefit from a course in Psychological First Aid, of PFA. PFA can help many victims recover from emotional trauma, and identifies other victims who should be referred to mental health professionals for further treatment.

The American Red Cross offers a four hour PFA course from time to time and many Red Cross disaster responders have taken it. If you are not a Red Cross volunteer and would like to have Psychological First Aid training, Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health is offering PFA via Coursera. The Coursera version is six weeks long and requires one to three hours of study per week. The Coursera sessions are free, with an optional Signature Track verified certificate program for a modest fee.

The next Johns Hopkins Psychological First Aid session begins on Monday, May 18^th,although you may register after that date and still join the class. To look into PFA or any of over one thousand other Coursera offerings, visit their website at https://www.coursera.org/ .

19. Non-Emergency Volunteering

Over the past two years I’ve spoken about disaster assignments that ARES members might consider taking with such served agencies as the American Red Cross, county emergency management agencies, local health districts, humane societies, etc. But ARES members who have the time might also consider some non-emergency assignments with these emergency response agencies.

One advantage associated with pulling volunteer work shifts at served agencies is that agency staff begin to view you as “one of us” rather than “one of them”. Volunteers in the “us” category will tend to receive more important disaster assignments because you will have built up a measure of trust by doing routine jobs with little glory attached to them. For example, this afternoon I spent ninety minutes mowing the lawn at my local Red Cross office, which cannot afford to hire someone for that purpose.

Occasionally served agencies offer benefits to their registered volunteers. In Clark County the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, or RSVP, www.unitedseniorservices.org , offers some mileage reimbursement and liability insurance for local government or non-profit volunteers aged fifty-five or older. RSVP also operates programs in Darke, Miami and Shelby Counties. Their website is: www.rsvpwestcentralohio.org .

20. Coffee Break Training

The United States Fire Administration (USFA), a part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), offers weekly one page education documents they call Coffee Break Training. Coffee break Trainings are short so that firefighters and emergency medical service providers at busy departments can study them in the intervals between runs.

Recently one topic of three recent trainings has been Understanding Geospatial Information. During disasters geospatial information is part of what us old timers used to call Damage Assessment or Disaster Assessment, which is now more often referred to as Situational Awareness.

Anyway, if you would like to learn some basic geospatial information terms and concepts, or a variety of other fire and EMS topics, go to the Coffee Break Training website at www.usfa.fema.gov/training/coffee_break/ . Note that fire and EMS staff may also earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) at this location as well.

21. Disease Outbreak News

Have you ever heard about an emerging disease on a TV news program or in a newspaper and wanted to know more about it? Then you may be interested in the Disease Outbreak News (DON), published as needed by the World Health Organization, or WHO, a United Nations agency headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The web address is www.who.int/csr/don/en/ .

The DON reports the facts regarding where new disease outbreaks are occurring around the world and how many cases are involved. Most of the recent reports concern Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV. MERS-CoV cases are showing up in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with a few cases recently noted in China and South Korea.

While not every ARES member would benefit from these reports, members who are also medical professionals might. Wright-Patterson AFB employees and contractors regularly travel to many of the countries mentioned above, and it’s just possible that some of these emerging illnesses may someday show up without advanced notice on our western Ohio doorsteps.

22. Upcoming Classroom Training

I thought I’d take a few minutes tonight to share some information I have regarding upcoming free classroom training opportunities. I certainly have a love affair with that word free, don’t I?

First, the Northern Miami Valley Ohio Chapter of the American Red Cross is offering Pillowcase Project Presenter Fundamentals training for registered Red Cross volunteers. The Pillowcase Project, funded by Disney, provides disaster preparedness training targeted to the 3^rd through 5^th grade age group. This training session lasts from 6 PM to 9 PM on Wednesday, June 17^th at the Red Cross office, 1314 Barnhart Road, Troy, Ohio. Contact lynne.gump@redcross.org to reserve a seat and find out about two online prerequisites: “ Basic Instructor Fundamentals and the Pillowcase presentation video.

Next, for any health professionals, including emergency medical technicians, who are able to get away for a week, FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) has upcoming classes that they would like to fill. An unusual number of attendee cancellations have left their June 21-27 Healthcare Leadership Course (HCL) and their July 6-11 Hospital Emergency Response (HERT) Train-the-Trainer with vacancies. As previously mentioned here, CDP courses are paid for by FEMA grants, including air travel to Atlanta, ground transportation to Anniston, Alabama, lodging, meals, textbooks, supplies, etc. I’ve been there five times myself. To learn more about HCL, HERT and other CDP offerings, visit http://cdp.dhs.gov . To apply for CDP courses, contact dan.cody@fema.dhs.gov .

23. Field Day 2015

Well, it’s nearly Field Day weekend again. Have you decided to participate this year? Will you be operating from a club site, an Emergency Operating Center, a mobile or portable station or your home?

No matter which you choose, you can add 100 bonus points to your final score by originating a formal message to the Ohio Section Manager (SM) or the Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC). To receive credit for transmitting your message, it must contain the information noted under Field Day 2015 rule 7.3.5 . You must retain a copy of the message using an ARRL Radiogram form. This copy must be submitted via one of the approved channels along with the Field Day report.

In addition to the points noted above, under rule 7.3.6 you may receive 10 bonus points for each ARRL Radiogram originated, or relayed, or received and delivered during Field Day. A total of 10 messages may be handled for bonus points, for a total of 100 bonus points. Again, the Field Day report must include copies.

If your Field Day setup includes a digital station, these points should be a snap. Voice and CW stations can still earn the points, but require more effort. Remember, if the HF bands are suppressed, which is more than possible this coming weekend, you could always pass these Radiograms via VHF or UHF simplex.

If we should ever need to handle welfare radio traffic during an emergency, this would be a good way to get in a little practice beforehand.

24. Pets in Disasters Training

American Red Cross Disaster Cycle Services staff members often run into the same problem over and over. After a disaster occurs, Red Cross shelters, and many of the Red Cross motel partners, cannot accommodate pets due to client allergy issues. Pets are an integral part of many families, and those families cannot or will not use Red Cross facilities unless their pets are being cared for as well.

Ideally, families should have a disaster plan that includes care for their pets as well as the human family members. And even if that fails, counties should have animal care as a part of their comprehensive disaster plans. However, as you know we don’t live in an ideal world.

All of which brings us to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA. The ASPCA Field Investigations and Response (FIR) Department has produced a series of ten online courses to teach responders about animals in crisis, including disaster response. FIR is also seeking volunteers to assist them at major incidents. For further information about the classes and/or volunteering for FIR, go to http://www.aspcapro.org/fir .

25. Event Planning Training

Country Concert 15 begins tomorrow and lasts through Saturday. This event draws approximately 20,000 country music fans to Shelby County, which has a permanent population of about 49,000. Needless to say, such an event places quite a strain on existing area law enforcement and emergency medical resources. A wise political jurisdiction’s response agencies strive to work carefully with the event organizers to plan a response to any likely emergency scenario.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency offers a pair of training courses specifically for such planning through its National Training and Education Division, or NTED. MGT-335 and MGT-335-W, its online only counterpart, cover Event Security Planning for Public Safety Professionals. MGT-404 discusses Sports and Special Events Incident Management.

More information about these courses, and others on related topics, is available through the NTED online and PDF catalogs at the following website: www.firstrespondertraining.gov/content.do . Since everyone has a county fair and most counties have similar large events, you might want to look into these opportunities to better prepare for the occasional show that goes sour.

26. Coursera on-line courses

Once again it is time to revisit the good folks at Coursera, who offer free and low-cost college level courses. While most Coursera courses still have a fixed beginning and ending date, many others are now available at any time, which they refer to as On-Demand. Here are a few relevant On-Demand courses available.

Cybersecurity and Its Ten Domains is offered by the University System of Georgia. Epidemics – the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases comes from Pennsylvania State University. Epidemiology: The Basic Science of Public Health originates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And Ebola Virus Disease: An Evolving Epidemic uses Emory University faculty.

Finally, we previously mentioned the course Disaster Preparedness from the University of Pittsburgh. Anyway, if any of these courses seem interesting, check them out at www.coursera.org.

27. Ohio EMA Courses

The good folks at the Ohio Emergency Management Agency have sent out a new course list through their county contacts. While the ICS 300 and 400 Incident Command System courses are already full due to a backlog of applicants, many other courses that might be of value and interest are available.

Most Ohio EMA training costs are covered through government grants. Housing may be covered if the attendee must travel in excess of forty-five miles each way to attend, and some host county agencies may kick in for lunches and snacks. Be sure to study the details for your particular class offering prior to enrolling. Your county emergency manager decides if you need this training, so contact him or her to initiate the enrollment process.

In August the Ohio EMA will host a four day Incident Command System Supply Unit Leader class and a four day ICS Resources Unit Leader class at the Ohio Emergency Operations Center near The Ohio State University Airport.

In September a three day Volunteers and Donations Management class will be held in Ashtabula County, and a three day Basic Public Information Officer class is scheduled in Fairfield County.

In October a three day Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) class will be conducted in Jackson County.

To investigate these and other Ohio EMA training opportunities, go to this web site to view the training calendar and catalog: http://www.ema.ohio.gov/Training.aspx .

28. Great Lakes Division Convention 1 Aug

The American Radio Relay League’s Great Lakes Division Convention will be held this Saturday, August 1^st in conjunction with the 2015 Columbus Hamfest. The location will be the Aladdin Shrine Center, 3850 Stelzer Road in northeast Columbus, Ohio. Admission is $5, with those 12 and under admitted free.

Activities begin at 8 AM and continue through 2 PM. An ARES forum starts at 9 AM, lasting for one hour. Other forums that may be of interest continue through Noon.

A four and a half minute video convention preview and further hamfest information are available at http://www.arrl-greatlakes.org .

29. IFRC Courses

A lot has been changing on the learning platform of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, or IFRC. New classes, most of them free, are being added regularly.

As of yesterday the English language offerings included twenty Disaster Management courses, sixteen Public Health courses, eleven courses in Logistics and Purchasing, plus many more in general management, human resources, etc.

Something relatively new is a series of partnerships with local schools all over the world. Through these partnerships, the IFRC is offering graduate level professional development certificate programs. These mostly online programs last for anything from three months to a year, and cost between one thousand and three thousand Swiss Francs, which is roughly the same in U.S. dollars.

To look over the IFRC offerings, visit: www.ifrc.org/learning-platform.

30. All Hazards Herald

The Public Affairs Office of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency has recently released its August 2015 issue of the All-Hazards Herald. This new e-newsletter replaces the Ohio EMA Field Journal. Some of the topics covered by the Herald include upcoming EMA training courses, grant programs, Ohio EMA personnel changes at the state and county levels, upcoming safety campaigns, etc. And OEMA External Affairs Officer Jay Carey, jdcarey@dps.ohio.gov , is interested in hearing from Hazard readers about future story or article ideas.

For those interested in viewing the new All-Hazards Herald or past issues of the Field Journal, visit http://ema.ohio.gov/PAO_NewsLetters.aspx .

31. ODH Train website

For many years now, the Ohio Department of Health has participated in a shared Public Health Foundation website called Train.

The site provides links to thousands of training courses, live webinars, recorded webinars, lectures, etc. regarding public health issues, including about a thousand related to disaster topics. In addition to federal and Ohio sponsored items, material from other states and from non-profit organizations is also available here.

While some of these are also available outside of the Train network, such as courses from FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), other materials are only available here. And if you can register through the Train site it will keep track of all of the courses you take. The site also features a calendar of upcoming training in and around Ohio.

Registration for Ohio Train begins at their home page: https://oh.train.org .

32. National Preparedness Month

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has declared September to be National Preparedness Month, a period to make plans for your community, your family and your pets.

This week’s nationwide focus is floods, making it a good time to recall this year’s flooding first in Logan County and later Darke County. Many families were caught unprepared for these waters, despite the fact that both counties are no strangers to high water.

While flooding can get much worse than the local events, that is little comfort if you, your family, your pets and your property are involved. In 1959 my family’s Springfield, Ohio welding shop had so much mud in the building that you might still find some there today! I can close my eyes and still see it, although I was only seven years old at the time.

To learn more about National Preparedness Month, visit their website at: http://www.ready.gov/september for more information.

33. National Preparedness Month Week 2

Last Wednesday we introduced you to FEMA’s National Preparedness Month for 2015 and its topic for week 1 – Floods. Since the week 2 topic is Wildfires, most of us in District 3 probably don’t need to dwell on that. So let’s use the time to introduce other aspects of NPM 2015.

In addition to the www.ready.gov website noted last week FEMA has introduced a mobile friendly Beta version of Ready.gov at https://beta.ready.gov .

The overall theme for the 2015 National Preparedness Month is: DON’T WAIT. COMMUNICATE. MAKE YOUR EMERGENCY PLAN TODAY. Both of the ready.gov websites offer materials to do just that.

34. National Preparedness Month/Red Cross Disaster Services

This week’s National Preparedness Month focus is on Hurricanes. While Ohio ARES District 3 does not face direct assaults from these storms, we are occasionally impacted by related rain and/or wind events, such as the remnants of Hurricane Ike in mid-September 2008. So in west-central Ohio, preparations for Hurricanes should emphasize flood and straight-line wind preplanning. We’ll go back to Preparedness Month next week.

On another topic, American Red Cross Disaster Cycle Services will undergo a major overhaul to its disaster response program effective the morning of September 30th. ARES members familiar with the former Client Assistance Price List, a menu of dollar amounts our Direct Client Services staff were authorized to provide to those impacted by disaster, should be aware that this price list is being completely revised. Most other related forms and documents are being revised or deleted as well.

Additionally, the client information needed for Red Cross records is going paperless as rapidly as possible. Red Cross staff will be encouraged to enter information directly into the Red Cross client database using smart phones, tablets, laptops or desktops connected to the internet. Four classes have been released to prepare Red Cross staff for these changes. The disaster staff at the Red Cross offices in Dayton or Troy can help you enroll in this training, if you would like to join the ranks of the Direct Client Services volunteer staff.

35. National Preparedness Month Week 4

This fourth week of 2015 National Preparedness Month is devoted to Power Outages. More information on this topic may be found on the following related websites: http://www.ready.gov/power-outage , https://beta.ready.gov/power-outage and www.ready.gov/kids/know-the-facts/power-outages .

I will not be available next week, but FEMA would like you to know that the culmination of National Preparedness Month on Wednesday, September 30^this National PrepareAthon! Day. More on that event is available at website www.ready.gov/prepare .

Finally, don’t forget that the annual Simulated Emergency Test, or SET, is scheduled for Saturday, October 3^rd. The ARRL Ohio Section and Ohio ARES District 3 are scheduled to participate. Stan Broadway, the Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator, discusses several goals in the current Ohio Section Journal http://arrl-ohio.org/sm/Section_News.html .

36. Continuity of Government Training

You may have noted my absence from last Wednesday’s ARES net. I was in northern Kentucky attending a FEMA course entitled Continuity of Government Operations Planning for Rural Communities.

So why am I bringing this up during an ARES net? Because an important part of continuity of government operations is effective communications, and a key player in continuity communications planning is, believe it or not, the Amateur Radio Service.

Continuity of Government planning uses a four-tiered redundant communications model, the tiers being: Landline/Cellular Networks, Commercial Two-way Radio systems, Commercial Satellite Telephones and Amateur Radio Systems, either the American Radio Relay League’s Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) or the Federal Communications Commission’s Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) or both.

Continuity of Government Operations is scheduled to be offered again near Cincinnati on February 4th. To view this, and other free class offerings, visit the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium website at www.ruraltraining.org .

37. Animals in Disasters Webinar

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, provides disaster services for animals throughout the country. Just a few years ago Clark County utilized their services when a law enforcement raid made our Humane Society Serving Clark County responsible for over 250 dogs seized from a single location. This was in addition to our usual overcrowded animal shelter population!

On Tuesday, October 20^th the ASPCA will offer a webinar entitled Animals in Disasters: A Community Preparedness Checklist. Presented by Dr. Dick Green, their Senior Director of Disaster Response, this one hour webinar will discuss the potential magnitude of the problem and what the ASPCA proposes to do about it. Anyone may register to participate, but if you are unable to be around between 3 and 4 PM next Tuesday, those registered will be given a link to hear the recorded webinar at a later time.

To register for this free disaster training opportunity, look for a link at the following home page: www.aspcapro.org/.

38. Animals in Disasters FEMA Training

Last Wednesday I mentioned yesterday’s ASPCA Animals in Disaster webinar. On a related note, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Management Institute recently updated two of its courses: Animals in Disasters: Awareness and Preparedness (IS-10.A) and Animals in Disasters: Community Planning (IS-11.A).

IS-10.A is a 3.5 hour online course that introduces the topic and helps the student prepare and plan for the safety of the family pets. IS-11.A is a 4.5 hour online class that encourages the student to become active in the community planning aspect of animals in disasters. Finally those in rural areas may be interested in IS-111A, Livestock in Disasters, another 3.5 hour online course for agribusinesses.

As usual, these EMI offerings are free. To learn more or to register for a course, go to the following web page: www.training.fema.gov/is/crslist.aspx . The top of this page also explains how to get the necessary FEMA Student Identification Number.

39. NIFOG V1.6

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Emergency Communications recently published their latest National Interoperability Field Operations Guide, or NIFOG, Version 1.6.

To quote the source, (NIFOG) is a technical reference for emergency communications planning and for radio technicians responsible for radios that will be used in disaster response. The NIFOG includes rules and regulations for use of nationwide and other interoperability channels, tables of frequencies and standard channel names, and other reference material, formatted as a pocket-sized guide for radio technicians to carry with them.

The Government Printing Office pocket-sized version of NIFOG 1.6 is not yet available for sale, but you may download a free PDF edition to your computer from http://publicsafetytools.info . Click on the NIFOG link from this home page. To look for the pocket edition at a later date, go to http://bookstore.gpo.gov . Note that the GPO still carries the older NIFOG version 1.5 in inventory until they receive stocks of 1.6.

40. National Parks on the Air

While most of our past programs have been on pretty serious emergency management topics, it is possible to have some fun while preparing for future responses. One new way to do so would be to participate in next year’s ARRL National Parks on the Air activities, or NPOTA, by setting up a mobile or portable station.

NPOTA seeks to celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service by activating and/or contacting temporary amateur radio stations at as many of the 433 National Park Service and affiliated sites as possible. There are three such sites to activate within Ohio ARES District 3.

The one many hams already know is the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, which has sites within Montgomery and Greene Counties. Far fewer know about the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, with a site just west of Wilberforce on U.S. 42 in Greene County. And how many of you know about the North Country National Scenic Trail, which follows the Buckeye Trail route in District 3?

Anyway, if you are interested in learning more about NPOTA activities, check out the website at https://npota.arrl.org/ and their official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/NPOTA/ .

41. DMAC/DMC Certifications

Before we begin, on this Veteran’s Day I’d like to thank all of the other veterans listening for their service.

A long time ago I did a program on the Associate Emergency Manager (AEM) and Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) programs offered by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Well, recently the American Red Cross instituted a similar pair of disaster credentials – Disaster Management Associate Certification (DMAC) and Disaster Manager Certification (DMC).

All that I know about these comes from a four page fact sheet. The programs are intended for intermediate to advanced American Red Cross paid and volunteer staff, and involve a combination of FEMA and Red Cross formal training courses, Red Cross and other disaster experience and quite a bit of paperwork in the form of a portfolio.

If you happen to be an active paid or volunteer Red Cross Disaster Cycle Services staffer and would like to learn more, look up the Disaster Manager Certification System fact sheet on The Exchange ARC website.

42. CERT Instructor Search

Instructor Search – Community Emergency Response Teams

The Ohio EMA is looking for individuals to become a “certified instructor” for the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) Basic Training Course and CERT Train-the-Trainer Course. Please go to http://ema.ohio.gov/Training_CertifiedInstructorsProgramPolicy.aspx and click on “November 23, 2015”. Please review the requirements and policies containing additional information and the Instructor application. If you are interested in becoming an Ohio EMA Certified CERT Instructor, complete the application and send it to David Nunley (dbnunley@dps.ohio.gov) for review and processing.

If you have any questions regarding the CERT program and training, please contact Rhonda Meggitt, Ohio EMA CERT/Citizen Corp State Coordinator at RMeggitt@dps.ohio.gov .

43. International Online Training

How would you like to take a free course from a foreign university without ever leaving your community? Thanks to the internet and financial support from third parties, this opportunity has arrived.

The Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and Chinese University Hong Kong, or CCOUC, is offering “Public Health Principals in Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response” to the first thousand or so folks worldwide who register for their 4^th Cohort at http://phpidccouc.conted.ox.ac.uk/ .

The course is intended for those with a bachelor’s degree or three years of experience in disaster response or public health. The target audience specifically mentions frontline disaster relief practitioners, which would include ARES members. This seven lesson course should take something like twenty hours, and those scoring 60% or more on the final exam will receive a CCOUC certificate of completion. You take the course at your own pace, but must finish by June 15, 2016.

I think I’ll try this one myself – this international certificate will go well with the domestic disaster training certificates from Yale, Louisiana State University, the University of Texas, etc.!

44. Public Safety Scanning

For over twenty years amateurs within Ohio District 3 have been unable to monitor the digital transmissions of the Springfield, Ohio trunking system. Springfield uses EDACS ProVoice, an Ericsson, and later MA/Com, system that no scanner or ham radio could successfully interpret. In order to hear it, listeners had to purchase and program a multi-thousand dollar transceiver designed for ProVoice use. A few actually did just that.

But recently scanner manufacturer Uniden announced a software upgrade for their top end BCD436HP and BCD536HP Home Patrol scanners that would allow users to add ProVoice transmissions to their existing capabilities. This reasonably priced upgrade is now available to owners of these two models only who register their scanners at http://my.uniden.com/ .

This upgrade allows users of these two scanner models to listen to almost every system in west-central Ohio that is not deliberately encrypted. Motorola Mototrbo and some federal transmissions are among the few exceptions.

If you have no interest in monitoring Springfield, don’t spend money on the software upgrade. However, note that when the Ohio MARCS system eventually goes to P25 Phase Two to double its capacity, these top end scanners should still properly decode the transmissions, and thus may still be scanners for you to consider.

45. NFPA Educational Message Desk Reference

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has produced a little safety handbook that is particularly useful for the holidays and the colder weeks that follow. Unlike many NFPA products, which tend to be pricey, this item can be downloaded free from their website.

The 2015 Edition of the NFPA Educational Message Desk Reference is just twenty-four pages long, but contains eighteen short chapters of very useful safety information. Not all of the chapters apply to all circumstances, but probably a dozen chapters do.

Download and read the chapters that apply to your situation before you prepare another big holiday meal or before you add supplemental heating devices to warm your home or radio shack on cold winter days.

The Desk Reference is available at http://www.nfpa.org/ . From that home page, use their search engine to find the Educational Messages Advisory Committee. From the EMAC home page, select the Educational Messages Desk Reference pdf link. I’m sorry that I can’t provide a more direct route!

46. Avoid Winter Weather Mistakes

Ron, W8ILC, a former District 3 Emergency Coordinator, forwarded the December 17^th edition of FEMA’s Individual and Community Preparedness e-Brief for our use on this net. With the first cold snap finally arriving this week, I thought it was a good time to share some of the contents.

Under the heading Avoid These Winter Weather Mistakes, FEMA borrowed three suggestions from the Weather Channel. The first recommendation is to clean your gutters before freezing weather arrives. On a personal note, I’m very bad about getting around to cleaning gutters.

Next is advice to make sure that any space heaters in use are turned off and cool before retiring to bed. Also cool off any fireplace embers.

Finally, develop and rehearse a fire escape plan, just in case any heating sources that you use escape from your control. FEMA further recommends that you visit the Weather Channel website at: http://www.weather.com/ .

Return to Net Training Archive Page

2015 Training Archive

1. Amateur radio use by Emergency Managers