“September 2007 is National Preparedness Month”
 
The goal of National Preparedness Month is to increase awareness about the importance of preparing for emergencies. It is vital that Amateur operators take steps to prepare for emergencies.
 
Preparedness:
Ensuring your family is protected. You can not help others as an Amateur Radio Operator if you have not planned for this.  This requires:
  1. Having a written Family Disaster Plan.
  2. Maintaining a Family Disaster Supplies Kit with a minimum of three days food.  This is not an “I probably have enough stuff in my cupboard”, but food dated and stored for immediate evacuation if needed.  At the very least, having such a kit prevents you from having to fight shopping lines when others panic or a snowstorm approaches, and thus makes you available for public service.
  3. Keeping a minimum of a half a tank of fuel in all vehicles.
  4. Knowing your State, County and Local ARES/RACES plans, including your alert frequency and self-alerting assignments.
  5. Having appropriate equipment, antenna kits and interchangeable emergency power sources.
  6. Keeping batteries charged and generators tested.
  7. Keeping your HT in your briefcase, purse, etc. with you during heightened alerts.
 
Proficiency:
  1. Knowing how government and agencies respond to disasters, i.e. NIMS/ICS.
  2. Knowing how amateur radio supplements them.
  3. Knowing what to do and what not to do.
  4. Maintaining skill in tactical and formal message handling.
  5. Completing Emergency Communications Training courses.
 
Professionalism:
  1. Attitude - Helping, not hindering
  2. Reliability - Being there when called
  3. Flexibility - Doing what is needed to get the job done.
  4. Thinking - Think before speaking especially concerning government/military operations or using your radio as a soapbox for political opinions.
  5. Appearance - Representing Amateur Radio in a favorable light.
 
I know we can count on every one of you to be prepared, proficient and professional if you are called on to help our communities and country.
 
The Four S’s of Public Service 
As we prepare and progress, Id like to supplement the three P’s of Public Service with the 4 S’s of emergency communications.
 
Sensibility:
First of all, it is important for us to remain calm and think carefully before acting and speaking. 
While we need to be prepared, the chances of Amateur Radio having to be used in response to a local emergency will hopefully remain small. If an EOC is opened for actual relief operations and communications become overloaded, then we would need to consider manning such facilities in accordance with State, County and Local Standard Operating Procedures. 
Once again, our primary concern at this time is making sure our home and family are prepared for an emergency.
 
Safety:
Safety of yourself and your Team mates in any operation should be paramount.  If you are dead or injured, you obviously can not be of any help to anyone, and will only compound the problem for those were trying to help.
We need to make sure that any task we undertake is something that we are trained and equipped for.  As emergency communications professionals, we are trained in handling messages, establishing nets, and maintaining communications equipment.  Most of us are not trained nor equipped to fight fires, engage in heavy rescue, monitor chemical plumes, or similar hazardous activities.  Trying to do things we are not trained nor equipped for only compounds the problem. 
Remember in times of stress to also be careful of the normal risks, such as driving safely, tower climbing, roof work, and electrical work. 
Fatigue is a big killer.  If activated, make sure you work no more than twelve hours a day and get plenty of sleep when off duty.  In all operations, our communications leadership must make sure that adequate shifts and relief operators are scheduled to minimize fatigue and maximize safety and effectiveness.
 
Security:
Every time you talk to someone on the air even in normal conversation, assume at least ten other people are listening. So without being paranoid, be careful about on air conversations that might be sensitive in nature. This includes on the air discussions of operations, government security procedures, police checkpoint locations, repeater and communication facility locations, EOC locations, Red Cross locations, emergency frequencies, schedules of operations, etc.  On the air you do not know who is eavesdropping, and every bit of information could become part of an overall capability assessment. We obviously do not want to become an additional or confirming source of information. 
 
Sensitivity:
It is also important to recognize that all of our major clients, the American Red Cross, FEMA and the Salvation Army have unique roles.  We are used to working with them in their Disaster Relief mission and we should know their policies about emergency communications and adhere to them. Most of the information we pass for these agencies are of a sensitive nature.
 
Summary:
We have all been through this before and we have trained for communications emergencies. The actual risk of a problem developing in any of our specific areas is probably low, however we should always be prepared, make family plans, we should practice and hone our communications traffic skills and we should work with our Local Emergency Management Offices to plan and ensure we are all on the same page. 
 
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