EMC114  Commun. Mutual Aid 1/2
To:   Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To:   Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By:   Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
      California Governor's Office of Emergency Services  

EMC114  Commun. Mutual Aid 1/2  For release 1/12/98

Communications mutual aid is a topic that can be confusing to
Amateur Radio operators.

In California, government response to any conceivable
emergency is regulated by state laws. Accordingly, obtaining
mutual aid is affected by these regulations. In general, a
city asks the next larger jurisdiction, which is the county.
The county may either supply the aid from its own resources,
or may ask assistance from other cities, or both. When county
resources are exhausted, or too thinly spread, it turns to the
respective Communications Coordinator of the Regional facility
of the State Office of Emergency Services.

Now, let's take a look at how it was used in some specific
California instances. These were in Orange County and were
for NON-emergency familiarization (i.e., training) events.
_______________
a. The City of La Palma RACES requested communications mutual
aid for the 5K and 10K races that were held on July 4, 1997.
The request went to their County from the City. It described
the staging location and number of operators needed as well as
detail on the equipment needed and to whom to respond
(name/phone). [Orange County RACES NetControl for July 1997]
______________
b.  The City of La Palma RACES requested mutual aid from "all
RACES organizations" for participation in the La Palma Days
Parade and Band Review, November, 1997. This according to 
the November '97 NetControl. 30 to 35 RACES participants were
needed.
______________
c. Another request to the County was from the City of 
Huntington Beach. Its RACES unit asked for mutual aid for the
July 4, 1997 holiday parade. The request included the
frequency for event coordination, such as for the VIP van
drivers, and the hours of operation.[Orange County RACES
newsletter "NetControl", July 1997]
______________
From the Huntington Beach RACES Newsletter for July 1997 here
is its report on the above event (item c).
     "Huntington Beach RACES performed their usual five 
functions: (1) provide citizens with radio net and operators
dedicated to PUBLIC SAFETY along the entire route...." 
(2) provide parade management and HBTV-3 people with a radio
net, the necessary personnel, and a dedicated repeater station
for PARADE QUEUING. (3) provide a separate net, repeater and
volunteer personnel for VIP VAN traffic from the parade
formation point to City Hall. (4) provide coverage and shadow
capability of all significant parade management personnel
with a MANAGEMENT NET on the RACES UHF repeater, and (5) 
support police and fire personnel for public safety during
the evening FIREWORKS show. 
      Ths list of activities usually requires over 500 hours
of volunteer efforts  before the last event is complete.
Mutual aid personnel came from five (5) other Orange County
RACES organizations.

(Continues next week)

ACS Web page: http://acs.oes.ca.gov       FTP archive:
ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/incoming for new
bulletins and ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/races for earlier ones.
Landline BBS: 916-262-0856 (graphical & standard interface).
OES ACS staff manager Stan Harter :Stanly_Harter@oes.ca.gov 
State Chief ACS Officer Cary Mangum: Cary_Mangum@oes.ca.gov
EOM EMC114