VIRGINIA 2016 ARES Simulated Emergency Test (SET) Exercise Plan for Event Horizon-16 October 1, 2016
Acknowledgements Virginia Section Leadership Dr. Joe Palsa, K3WRY Section Manager Edward V. Krom III, WD4KHP Section Emergency Coordinator John Johnson, K0IBS Section Traffic Manager Emmett Price, K3EP Net Manager 2016 Virginia SET Committee Scott J. Royle, KK4Z Primary Author Greg Butler, KW6GB Jerry Moats, WD4ITN Karen Pience, N3TCT Scribe Roger Pience, N1XP Chairman
Table of Contents Background...1 Purpose of SET...1 Exercise Scope & Focus...1 Exercise Objectives...2 Exercise Date...2 Exercise Schedule...2 Preparation...3 Exercise Scenario...3 Operational Guidelines...3 Documentation...5 Points of Contact...6
BACKGROUND Virginia can experience bad weather at any time Coastal areas, are subject to hurricanes or high winds with tidal flooding. The piedmont and highland areas can experience flooding from extended storms. Exercise Name - Event Horizon a point of no return - in general relativity, a point in which gravity becomes so great that not even light can escape. Purpose of SET The purpose of this exercise is to provide participants with an opportunity to evaluate current response concepts, plans, and capabilities for a response to a widespread serious weather event or disaster in Virginia. This may include all county and city amateur radio operators, their served agencies, as well as ARES section leadership, and State and Federal Emergency Management Agencies. The exercise will concentrate on providing communications backup and continuity to our served agencies. To provide a public demonstration to served agencies and through the news media of the value to the public which Amateur Radio provides in time of need. To provide training and experience in communicating under simulatedemergency conditions. To provide a framework allowing all District Emergency Coordinators, Emergency Coordinators and Net Managers to evaluate how well they are performing. Exercise Scope & Focus The exercise emphasizes the preparedness of the Section and the individual city/county units to provide auxiliary communications to served agencies in the event of a significant weather or disaster episode which results in compromised public infrastructure. This framework places additional emphasis on interaction with served agencies as well as operation under less than ideal conditions. In addition, District Emergency Coordinators, Emergency Coordinators and as well as Net Managers will document their plans prior to the SET and use appropriate FEMA ICS forms when applicable. The use of FEMA ICS forms during the SET provides (ICS-211, ICS-213, ICS-214) training opportunities for our members and introduces commonality with our served agencies.
Exercise Objectives Exercise objectives concentrate on training to improve our understanding of a response to a significant weather event or disaster and identify opportunities for improvement in resource planning and response execution. This exercise will center of the following objectives: 1. Resource Planning. Emergency Coordinators will determine strengths and weaknesses in local plans for operator deployment, relief and support. 2. Organizational Cooperation. Emergency Coordinators will observe interaction and planning between their ARESVA units and the served agencies. 3. Response. The ARESVA Section Leadership under the direction of the Section Manager will assess the ability of the Section to adequately deploy. Exercise Date October 1, 2016. Emergency Coordinators can schedule the SET throughout the year to capitalize on training and ensure all of their members have an opportunity to participate. The Section will make available communications support such as traffic nets, emergency nets, and operating the State EOC based on the schedule posted below to provide the Emergency Coordinators the opportunity to interact with Section level resources as a part of their training. Exercise Schedule Exercise Schedule Time (Local) Event Participants 9:00 AM SM / SEC to Activate via Net Manager NCO, All participants 9:30 AM Incident Briefing via Net NCO to DECs 9:45 AM START EX DECs to ECs 9:00 10:00 AM ARES-VA -- HF Bulletin NCO, All participants 10:00 AM -12:00 PM Local EX Injects All participants 12:00 PM HF Net SET Scorecard 14:00 PM ENDEX All participants 14:15 PM Email Net Results NCO, SEC / SM
Preparation Before the SET: The Section will provide training materials to the District Emergency Coordinators and ECs for training on the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The review will include of the NIMS structure and commonly used ICS forms (ICS-211, ICS-213, ICS-214). FREE on-line training is available at: http://training.fema.gov/nims/ This is an excellent time to involve the local Emergency Manager and other served agencies. Exercise Scenario The Section will provide weather injects at the District level based upon the following scenario: A line of powerful thunderstorms, spawned by a hurricane, is approaching the state from the southwest. Strong winds, flood producing rains, damaging hail & lightning have paralyzed most of the counties in your district. Wind speeds exceeded 85 MPH and have produced many downed-trees causing power lines to fail. Estimates are between 85% and 90% of homes are without power. Many roads are impassable due to flash-flooding, tree debris, and downed-power lines. Communications has suffered greatly as well. Downed utilities, power outages, and failed back-ups have crippled normal communications. Amateur Radio operators have not gone unscathed. Repeaters without back-up power are no longer operational. EC activate and collect teams. (see schedule) Served agencies in the affected area have requested communications support from ARESVA. Meeting these requests will require a combined response from the entire ARESVA section. Operational Guidelines Local Net(s): The selection of VHF/UHF simplex frequencies will be at the discretion of the EC. The EC shall note all operating frequencies on their communication plan. Frequency/repeater selection should follow City/County resource list. Repeaters with back-up power may be used at the discretion of the EC. Statewide HF Nets: The Statewide HF ARES Nets shall be active in support the SET ONLY during the times listed in exercise schedule and contained in the announcement of the section bulletin. HF may be used by local groups to facilitate communication over longer distances than cannot be handled on local VHF and UHF nets.
Statewide HF Nets shall be at the direction of the Section Traffic Manager: ARESVA HF Voice Net: 7240 khz LSB (+/- QRM) Alternate voice frequency will be: 3947 khz LSB (+/- QRM) ARESVA HF digital Net: 7050 khz USB PSK31/+1500 (+/- QRM) Alternate HF digital Net: 3577 khz USB PSK31/+1500 (+/- QRM) These are controlled nets. STM shall select Net Control Stations for each net session. All messages MUST be preceded by and end with THIS IS AN EXERCISE All ARESVA members are encouraged to wear ARES labeled vests and hats. EC s are encouraged to: 1. Use simplex wherever possible. 2. Use digital modes such as Packet for V/UHF and PSK31 for HF. 3. Only use repeaters with back up power. 4. Use NVIS propagation and NVIS antennas for local and statewide communication. 5. All stations are encouraged to use their emergency power source and set up emergency antennas if possible. If it s something you d expect to do during a real emergency response, no better time than now to test it out. 6. Each team or participating individual should copy the Statewide HF Nets bulletin. 7. Send local tactical message traffic on behalf of local served agency. (Local role player will provide traffic injects DEC may provide additional traffic injects, based on local needs or operational challenges). 8. Think outside the box (flexibility is one of the capabilities radio amateurs bring to any Emergency/Public Service mission). 9. Each operating Team s actions and ALL Communications shall be noted/logged on the applicable ICS form(s). 10. Try High Speed Multimedia (HSMM) using back-up power only.
Documentation All activities and traffic REQUIRE proper documentation. 1. Each operating Team s actions shall track their activity on an ICS-214 Unit Log. 2. Any message traffic should be recorded on an ICS-213 General Message Form to ensure proper handling of the message. 3. Emergency Coordinators must maintain accountability of their team. Use of ICS -211 Sign In Form should be used for sign in/sign out. 4. Recommended forms include: ICS-211 Sign-in Form ICS-213 General Message Form ICS-214 Unit Activity These and other forms are available on the https://aresva.us/index.php/vaares-resources/reporting-report-forms website.
Points of Contact NAME CALL OFFICE email Tel Dr. Joe Palsa K3RWY Section Manager K3WRY@ARRL.ORG 804-350-2665 Ed Krom WD4KHP Section Em. CoordinatorSEC@ARESVA.US John Johnson K0IBS SEC. TRAFFIC MGR. STM@ARESVA.US Emmett Price K3EP NET MANAGER NM@ARESVA.US Greg Butler KW6GB DEC-1 DEC1@ARESVA.US Howard Cunningham WD5DBC DEC-2 DEC2@ARESVA.US Jeff Heavlin K4OLW DEC-3 DEC3@ARESVA.US Dave Collins N4WDC DEC-4 DEC4@ARESVA.US Jon Vaupel W4JSV DEC-5 DEC5@ARESVA.US Julian Bailey KV4VP DEC-6 DEC6@ARESVA.US Ed Schuman WD0FYV DEC-7 DEC7@ARESVA.US Ross Comstock KE5BM DEC-8 DEC8@ARESVA.US John Roberts WB4AXY DEC-9 DEC9@ARESVA.US Randy Grigg WB4KZI DEC-10 DEC10@ARESVA.US Steve Clary K4SDC DEC-11 DEC11@ARESVA.US Gordon Howell WA4ATS DEC-12 DEC12@ARESVA.US Roger Pience (acting) N1XP DEC-13 DEC15@ARESVA.US 540-688-6488 Bill Perkins KJ4ASH DEC-14 DEC14@ARESVA.US Roger Pience N1XP DEC-15 DEC15@ARESVA.US 540-688-6488