This is a simple overview of what to do if you think there is a local emergency. If you do these things, even if nothing is wrong, you merely assure yourself that you have taken protective action to assess the situation.
Emergencies include earthquakes, serious fires (a house or two, a large column of smoke of unknown origin), a really strong winter storm, or the like. If you are convinced something bad has happened, this is the communications plan you should follow.
You should also follow any plans you have made with your neighbors. It is very important to talk about neighborhood emergency response plans. You should all know where gas, water, and electric shutoff valves are and how you are going to assess damage in the neighborhood.
This is the cheat sheet on emergency communications!
Steps one through three and five through eight apply to everyone. They apply to every family member who has an Family Radio Service (FRS) radio. They apply to people of all ages. FRS radios are the mobile wireless devices that guarantee you can talk to someone when all else fails.
If you and your family do not have FRS radios, we STRONGLY RECOMMEND you go down to Costco, Walmart, or Radio Shack (or on the Internet) and get some. They are a little useful day in and day out as intercoms in the house, around the yard, and to the neighbors but when things get bad they are a lifeline!
Steps and the references to amateur radio (ham radio) communications obviously only apply to those licensed to operate ham radios. Everyone is encouraged to get ham licenses. The test(s) is (are) easy, the equipment is relatively inexpensive, and the license is quite valuable. It is particularly important that you try to get the kids involved as they are usually free to do communications duty while parents deal with heavier lifting.
Your first responsibility is to look to your own safety and the safety of your family, pets, and property. Take whatever action and time you need to guarantee that you are safe and secure and that your family is taken care of.
If there is any question, shut off electricity, water and gas. They are easy enough to turn back on. PG&E would rather come out to help you restart appliances than deal with a fire or active leak.
This is Step Two. We don't care that you are an Amateur Extra Class ham radio operator with twenty-two antennas and more radios than you know how to use at one time. Leave them off until your FRS situation is stabilized (the end of step 3).
This is Step Two! Don't worry about land-lines or cell phones. You can check email and instant messages on the Blackberry or the laptop later. Step two is about connecting with your immediate family and neighbors. You can call folks later. Turn on the FRS radio!
Put fresh batteries in the FRS radio (alkaline batteries are preferred ... freshly recharged reusable batteries are OK but please have a supply of new alkalines around for the long haul). If you are going to use rechargeable batteries, set up the solar recharger immediately in some safe sunlit place and get the next set of batteries charging.
Turn the radio on and set it to the neighborhood frequency. Your neighborhood has decided to use channel ____. Make sure the tone/color is off or zero (see the cheat sheet for your radio).
LISTEN carefully for at least 30 seconds which is a really long time. You will probably hear someone else on the radio already. Hopefully whoever is on has been trained and has done the drills and a local FRS net is getting organized. If so, check in and get involved.
If what you hear is disorganized and/or panic-tinged, take charge. Jump in when you can. Put the Net Control skills you've practiced in class and drills to work. Remember to grab a pad and pen/pencil. If you are Net Control, keep a roster of everyone who's checked in and notes on anything they've reported in terms of safety or medical situations. If you are not Net Control, a log is a good thing to keep in case you need to take over Net Control later. Keep a log of "important" messages.
Net control is NOT the neighborhood team leader (Incident Commander in ICS-speak). Net control in the communications department and supports the team leader. Usually communications is enough of a job in itself. Someone else can be team leader and organize what needs to be done. If you are NOT Net Control, keep the network up to date with you and your family's status and be prepared for team assignments as appropriate.
If you are an Amateur Radio Service licensee and have the appropriate equipment and you are not off doing urgent family or neighborhood work, put fresh batteries in your handheld and contact the Regional Resource and Control Net on 443.975+100.0 (Baynet). The Regional Net will gather basic information about your status and capabilities. It will query you about your neighborhood if nobody else from the neighborhood has checked in. If things are hairy enough they may pass you off to an Area (city) simplex net.
If the Baynet repeater is quiet, start the Resource and Control Net. Even if it turns out your neighborhood is involved and activated, it is likely that others in the community are monitoring Baynet and can provide assistance.
Your neighborhood team leader (IC) should have a plan for damage assessment and an action plan for hazard mitigation and initial problem response. The FRS network control for a neighborhood maintains the situation data log as data comes in and updates the team leadership on a regular basis.
As damage reports are logged, priority or emergency messages are passed from the FRS operators through the net to embedded hams who report them either to the Regional or their assigned Area nets.
All messages of every priority will be accepted and passed to reachable destinations. FRS operators will be able to query hams for the known status of messages so that they have confidence that messages aren't being lost or ignored. Messages will be handled in relative order of priority (Emergency, Priority, Normal, and Welfare).
Messages receipts will be returned to the neighborhoods as messages are delivered to destination EOCs, Fire or Police Dispatch Centers, school communicators, or shelter communicators. Replies will be logged as they come back to the neighborhoods and delivery receipts returned to Repliers. [Message management protocol in an appendix]
Once connected to a network (one or several), do not merely turn radios off. Inform the network control operator that you are going off the air (and preferably why and for how long). If you are switching frequencies to momentarily check in to another net, check out of the net(s) you are leaving. If you are swamped with message traffic on a net and are also checked in to another net, take the time to check out of the second net so they don't think you are available.
Maintain your formal and informal logs. Scratch-paper and informal notes can be tossed but the station logs and message copies you handled should be retained.
Get permission to demobilize. You may have been issued equipment you need to return or account for. You may need to be debriefed by collaborators before you forget important operational information. Demobilization is an important process. Do your best to make sure you help the team remember what it should and prepare to be better in future situations.
In either FRS, Regional, or Area networks, stations should initially check in and identify with official FCC call signs (hams) or first-names and street addresses (FRS). Nets should develop and adopt consistently used tactical call signs for significant operational role players. Role players include the currently active communications person in each neighborhood, assigned to each EOC, assigned to a Fire Station, at a School, and at a Shelter. Role players also include the Net Control operators for the Regional and any active Area networks. Such role players should be addressed on the air by their tactical call sign. Ham role players should identify by official call sign in accordance with FCC requirements.
All networks in this system are self activated. The first operator onto the frequency is expected to establish a net and maintain orderly communications. The network control operator (Net Control) is responsible for maintaining an accurate roster of stations in the network and stations previously connected but temporarily off-line. The roster should include basic status about the well-being of the stations in the list as well as a current indication of a station's indication that it has traffic that has yet to be handled.
Network control logs should use the format of the ICS-214a where each page has the date and time, a page number, the name and/or call sign of the control operator. The columns are timestamp and communications summary. The timestamp is the time a message was sent or received. The originator should be noted in the communications summary column. The originator is either Net Control (NC) or a tactical call. The communications summary is as simple as a one-liner (checked in, checked out, no traffic) or captures the text of an important message. It may also be a receipt for delivery of a message or the reply sent in response to a query. The logs of a neighborhood Net Control acting as ham link-operator and the Net Control of the Resource or Area networks should match up.
Message prioritization is critical. Stations must respect the priority of messages from served agencies as well as that coming from neighborhoods. Networks should be particularly careful to leave ample opportunity for stations to break into the operation of the net for priority or emergency traffic.
It is essential that neighborhoods act to settle communications down and maintain order. It is important that people communicate calmly and professionally no matter how dire the immediate situation. It does not help to shout, scream, or plead. What's needed is direct and clear information as well expressed as possible. The team may need to dispatch real people to calm those who are most needy and to give them face time to talk out their emotions. It is important to do that off-line so that others in the community are not overly influenced by individual moments of panic or pain.
In the following scripts, we use [NAME] and [ADDRESS] where you should insert your name and street address. We also use [NEIGHBORHOOD] and [NET] and you insert your neighborhood or net name. You don't have call signs for FRS so you need some clear identifier. We suggest [ADDRESS] as the primary tactical call sign for your family and [NAME] to direct a call to a person when appropriate.
When doing a drill, practicing networking on the FRS radios, you must say, "This is a drill." frequently! MUST!
"Hello, Hello, Hello! This is [NAME] at [ADDRESS]. I am establishing an emergency FRS net for [NEIGHBORHOOD]. Other stations are asked to stand by or switch to another channel while this net is in progress. Are there any emergency messages for the net at this time?"
Pause. Handle emergency messages as needed.
"This is a directed net. I will first call the roll and take check-ins. Please respond with your address, first name, and whether you have messages for the net. Later I will ask for new check-ins and check-outs on a regular basis. At any time, if you have an emergency message, announce it by saying BREAK-BREAK. Announce priority traffic by saying BREAK."
Pause. Call the roll as you have it. For each person checking in, record [ADDRESS], [NAME], and any significant comments they make.
After you have called the roll, ask, "Are there any others to check in at this time?"
Pause. Handle check ins/outs and messages as needed.
"Anybody with a message, please call Net Control. Stations should not call each other directly. If you have a message for another person, ask Net Control for permission to proceed."
At this point, the net should flow freely with messages flowing through Net Control. Net control should grant permission for direct contacts unless there is some priority or emergency activity for which the channel is being kept open.
Once you have the net organized, you should run through the roster of stations checked in about every fifteen minutes. As you start down the roster, you should preface it with:
"This is Net Control for the [NEIGHBORHOOD] FRS Net. I am going to call the roll. Please respond with your first name and address."
TBD