On
April 21, 22, and 23, 2009, a fact-finding exercise was
hosted by the Summerville City Fire Department in Summerville,
South Carolina. The exercise
purpose was to simulate a
no-warning event such as an earthquake or tornado strike. Emphasis was
placed on interoperability of
equipment, communications, command and control structure, and the
education of
responders and the public.
The
five minute streaming video clip shows hi-lights of
setup during the first day of operation.
VIDEO FILE
OBJECT
During
the three day event, first responder personnel lived
at this site, proving self sufficiency and the ability to work together
for the
common good of the community. A
total
fire and rescue company was stationed at this site and continued
operation for
72 hours without interruption of service to their community
Ham
Radio played a special role in this exercise.
Amateur radio operators from Berkeley,
Dorchester, and Charleston County
demonstrated their
skill sets to not only communicate using ham radio, but also to
maintain public
safety emergency communication equipment, and to provide technical
assistance
to support the simulated community emergency response.
Ham
radio serves a bigger purpose to the community by
opening additional channel capacity for first responders, maintaining
communication equipment, and providing the general public with an
outlet to
send messages out of the disaster area when other methods of
communication such
as commercial telephone, cell phone and the internet has failed. At this site, public
safety first responder
portable communication systems were
set
up along with amateur radio VHF, UHF, and HF systems. In addition a
satellite
internet connection was used to create a wi-fi hot spot for the first
responders and the general public.
Many
thanks to Chief Mark Melfi, Dennis
Clark, Director of Dorchester County
Emergency Management, John Crockett,
(KC4YI),
Manager for Transmitter Operations SC Educational Television; John
Place,
(W4HNK), ARES EC for Dorchester County, Ron Arroya, 911 Communication
Director
for Dorchester County; Vince Lombardo, (K4AOC), ARES EC for Berkeley
County,
Bill Pennekamp, (WA4WGP), and many others who coordinated, planned, and
participated in this event.
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