Disaster Services

Skywarn - Storm Spotter Program

• Each spring, thousands and thousands of hams are trained by regional National Weather Service staffers in an effort to utilize hams and other volunteers in the field to observe hazardous weather conditions. In some areas, Skywarn uses ham radio networks and repeaters to relay essential weather observations straight to NWS meteorologists as an extension of their eyes and ears.

Reference: weather.gov

National Weather Service

• The National Weather Service is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the purposes of protection, safety, and general information.

Reference: weather.gov

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

• Each year, the United States averages some 10,000 thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,300 tornadoes and 2 Atlantic hurricanes, as well as widespread droughts and wildfires. Weather, water and climate events, cause an average of approximately 650 deaths and $15 billion in damage per year and are responsible for some 90 percent of all presidentially-declared disasters. About one-third of the U.S. economy – some $3 trillion – is sensitive to weather and climate. National Weather Service (NWS) provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy.

Reference: noaa.gov

WRN - Weather Ready Nation

• The Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ initiative is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) effort to formally recognize NOAA partners who are improving the nation’s readiness, responsiveness, and overall resilience against extreme weather, water, and climate events. As a WRN Ambassador, partners commit to working with NOAA and other Ambassadors to strengthen national resilience against extreme weather. In effect, the WRN Ambassador initiative helps unify the efforts across government, non-profits, academia, and private industry toward making the nation more ready, responsive, and resilient against extreme environmental hazards. Weather-Ready Nation (WRN) is a strategic outcome where society’s response should be equal to the risk from all extreme weather, water, and climate hazards.

Reference:  weather.gov

Hurricane Watch Net

• The Hurricane Watch Net is manned entirely by volunteers. We generally activate whenever a system has achieved hurricane status and is within 300 statute miles of populated landmass or at the request of the forecasters at National Hurricane Center.

Reference: hwn.org

ARES/RACES

• Emergency service is one of the basics form of the Amateur Radio Service and there is sometimes come some confusion about ARES, the ARRL arm of emergency services and RACES, the government arm of amateur emergency services.

Reference: arrl.org

• ARES is activated before, during and after an emergency. ... RACES, on the other hand, almost never starts before an emergency and is active only during the emergency and during the immediate aftermath if government emergency management offices need communications support.

Reference: cert-emcomm.net

CERT - Community Emergency Response Team

• The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks.

Reference: ready.gov/cert

FEMA.gov

• FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) mission is to support the citizens and first responders to promote that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Reference: fema.gov

Red Cross

• The American Red Cross, also known as The American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States.

Reference: American Red Cross

SERT - State Emergency Response Team

• The State Emergency Response Team is tasked with providing disaster assistance to the residents of the state of Florida. The SERT is comprised of branches and Emergency Support Functions (EST). These entities work closely with one another to fulfill mission task and request for direct aid to disaster impact areas.

Reference: sert.org

IARU - International Amateur Radio Union

• The role of Amateur Radio in providing emergency communications is becoming more widely recognised through our abilities to quickly build message passing networks when conventional systems are overwhelmed or non-existent. A number of Emergency Communications Groups have been created, either as part of their IARU Representative Society or as independent groups

Reference: iaru.org

AUXCOMM - Auxiliary Communications

• Auxiliary Communications (AUXCOMM) is an all-inclusive term used to describe the many organizations and personnel that provide various types of communications support to emergency management, public safety, and other government agencies.

Reference: cisa.gov

REACT - Radio Emergency Associated Communication Teams

• REACT (Radio Emergency Associated Communication Teams) began as a CB radio Emergency Channel 9 monitoring organization across the United States and Canada in 1962. ... Later, duties grew to include communications after disasters (such as tornadoes and floods), and in some places before disasters (storm spotting).

Reference: wikipedia.org

SATERN - Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network

• The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) is a network of volunteer amateur radio operators that provide emergency communications between Salvation Army posts, and pass messages with health and welfare information between the Salvation Army and the general public.

  Reference: salvationarmyusa.org

Police

• During a disaster, police officers play a key role in many operations including: search and rescue, evacuations, door-to-door checks, and maintaining overall public safety within the community. These are critical actions that support not only their own communities but neighboring towns as well.

Fire

• One of the strongest links in any disaster is the ability of the fire department to initiate incident command that provides the building blocks for additional response from other agencies. Firefighters will also be pressed into service to start triage of any victims and administer lifesaving aid.

Reference: firerescue1.com

Medical

• Local health departments play a key role in achieving national health security by preparing their communities for disasters, responding when emergencies occur, and lending support through the recovery process.

Reference: naccho.org

EOC - Emergency Operations Centers

• An emergency operations center (EOC) is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization.

Reference: wikipedia.org

SARnet

• The Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) is a network of linked UHF voice repeaters that serves the State of Florida. The repeaters are operated by their local trustees and the network that connects them together does not interfere with the local use of the repeaters. These UHF repeaters were specifically chosen in part because the voice traffic on them is light. This helps ensure that long conversations and rag-chews are rare on SARnet since any SARnet traffic brings up ALL of the repeaters on the network. But always remember when using these UHF frequencies that the government has primary use of the amateur spectrum near 440MHz. See this discussion on the government use of the band.

Reference: SARnetfl.com

AFMARS - Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System

• MARS is a Department of Defense sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the Army, and Air Force.

• The United States Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System provides contingency communications support on behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense and other U.S. Government users in support of their important and diverse national security missions whenever, however and  wherever  required.

Reference: mars.af.mil

AMARS - Army Military Auxiliary Radio System

• MARS is a Department of Defense sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the Army, and Air Force.

• Army MARS (AMARS) organizes and trains the best, licensed amateur radio volunteers to operate in military radio networks to support tasked requirements establishing high frequency radio contingency communications. We are managed through United States Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) and headquartered at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Reference: usarmymars.org

National Guard

• Being prepared when disaster strikes could be the difference between life and death. Not just a fighting force, the U.S. military applies warfighting skills and assets to help protect the homeland. Service members train and prepare year-round so when hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and even volcanoes erupt; troops are ready to help those in harm’s way.

Reference: nationalguard.mil

USCG

• The Coast Guard is a unique branch of the military responsible for an array of maritime duties, from ensuring safe and lawful commerce to performing rescue missions in severe conditions. Nearly 42,000 men and women are actively serving in the Coast Guard to defend America's borders and protect the maritime environment.

Reference: USCG