EMC315 How do you activate? 2/2
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

EMC315 How do you activate? 2/2          Release 11/12/01

Continuation of a 1995 description of the process of activation.
It's intended as an idea starter to get you to share how your unit
handles its activation. (article continues:)

"On notification of activation the RO (Radio Officer or alternate)
needs certain information. If there are multiple locations, each
must be considered separately and individually.

1. How much time is there to respond?
2. Who will the unit be working for/with? (what agency)
3. Type of response involved? (Flood, fire, etc.)
4. How long will response be required? Are operations required?
5. How many locations will be required to be staffed? (name and
   location including map coordinates.)
6.  Hours of operations at which locations are required?
7.  Type terrain involved? (line of sight, HF, access, etc.)
8.  Any locations require more than one mode or equipment setup?
9.  Type of power available, if any? AC, Emergency, or ?
10. Any relay links required?
11. Anticipated work. Does it involve traffic, voice or digital?
    Shadows? Or something else? Unknown, backup or??
12  If a Mutual Aid response, what is the mission or resource
    order number?  By whose authority? In what agency?
13. If the response to Item 12 uses the term OES, WHAT OES? There
    can be several involved in a single incident. Make SURE to
    determine the one to which any response is requested, and
    from which one a request was made! Note that on any resource
    order record or forms.
14. If the situation involves a field response, determine the
    route for responders to travel, enroute and arrival
    frequencies.
15. Is there a current list for each responders emergency number?
    (to notify in event the responder is injured, or worse.)

Note: Many Radio Officers report that they do their assignments
OFF-THE-AIR. There are several reasons for this; one of which is
the unscrupulous who could note the persons name and look up
their home location and then go to the property. [It is the
same potential as when someone announces on a local net that he
is taking a vacation beginning such and such a date.] Shift
assignments should be confidential and NOT made public. [Sure, it
has been done, and overly eager people will continue to do it,
but it isn't professional. On-the-air assignments should only be
done if no other form of practical communication is possible.]

What about recall? What will it take to recall a responder once
that person has departed for an assignment? Sometimes it is more
difficult than one would imagine."

(Original material issued by Stan Harter as RB397-9 in 1995)
             ---           ---          ---
Today the titles used in California are different, as are
systems response due to procedural changes. The "Region Radio
Officer" today is the "Region ACS Officer" since the position
responsibility extends beyond radio into many communications
forms and systems including Public Safety Systems. Procedures
for mutual aid changed with the legislation that created SEMS
(the Standardized Emergency Management System) and the RIMS
(Response Incident Management System) method of communication
between counties and state for mutual aid and support.

How do your unit activate? We would like to know how _yours_
does it. Please write and share your procedures. Send to:
cary_mangum@oes.ca.gov
                           ---   ---   ---
Bulletins archives: ACS Web page: http://acs.oes.ca.gov/
ftp.ucsd.edu/emcomm or ftp.oes.ca.gov/ACS/EMCOMM and a
telephone BBS 916-262-0856 (graphical & standard interface).
EOM