Kirkland ARES - A Historical Overview

THE KIRKLAND ARES TEAM:
A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The Kirkland ARES Team was organized in 1995 at the request of the Emergency Preparedness section of the Kirkland Fire and Building Department, when limitations of the relatively new King County 800 MHz trunking system were becoming obvious when stressed by area-wide disturbances.
The first official meeting of the Team, scheduled for December of 1995, was deferred to January of 1996. On the day of the December meeting, team members were activated to the ECC and several fire stations as a storm with sustained windsin the 85 MPH range blew through Kirkland and the surrounding area. Using primitive

setups, the ability to communicate effectively was demonstrated.In further meetings of the with City representatives, it was established that the ARES Team would operate under the State of Washington program dealing with Volunteer Emergency Workers, which recognizes the important contributions of trained volunteers under conditions that seriously overwhelm regular Fire, Police, and other services. New members are registered as State of Washington Emergency Workers, become members of the City of Kirkland Volunteer Program, and receive Security Clearances as provided by the Kirkland Police Department for access to secure City property. Both King County ARES and City photo-ID badges are provided to those that qualify.

Regular monthly meetings are assigned State Training Mission numbers, with time and personal vehicle mileage related to the meeting reported to the State and to the City Volunteer Coordinator. ARES is presently one of the larger of several City Volunteer groups, with a total membership in the 45-50 range, of which approximately 35 are in active status In addition, it was decided to hold monthly team meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, skipping a summer month for "vacations", and that we should meet in as many of the City fire stations as could accommodate us, as well as in City Hall. It was determined that ARES should be set up in each of the City's six fire stations, to provide dispatch information to the fire crews should normal lines of communication be out, as well as to act as a point of contact for local citizens, who have no other direct method to contact civil authorities in the event of a "no-phones, no power" situation.
An ARES "Master Station" would also be set up in the City Emergency Coordination Center in City Hall, where responsible City authorities would deal with each event as it became known to them. Members with portable equipment can also be dispatched to key Public Works, Roads, or other designated sites, if necessary, to obtain up to date reports from an Incident Commander at the scene.
Accordingly, the City funded the installation of high quality dual-band VHF/UHF amateur transceivers in all of the fire stations, complete with permanently mounted antennas and peripheral equipment. The ECC also received a 100 watt HF radio, with its accessory equipment for state-wide longer range communications. The ECC also has a State supplied CEMNET radio, which allow direct contact with the State ECC at Camp Murray. Dedicated ARES members come to our ECC and check in with the State every Tuesday morning.
As development of the team continued, training in Basic Message Handling, the Incident Command System, Disaster Preparedness, Familiarization with WAC-118-04 (The State document dealing with emergency volunteers), Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, and other training related to being an emergency worker was conducted for members. We also hold periodic "live" exercises to familiarize members with the equipment, and to enhance and refresh their skills as emergency operators. When several older "386" and "486" type computers became surplus to the City, ARES accepted them and began work on the creation of a digital communication network, using the basic principles known as "Packet Radio", where keyboard-to-keyboard links are established, taking the error prone "human transcription factor" out of the circuit. While marginal success was achieved, equipment problems and lack of an effective common operating program put it on a back burner. The packet program is now being reactivated with the City's surplussing a series of excellent laptop computers to ARES, along with the discovery of what appears to be a much more satisfactory packet operating system. Development of a packet network tying all six City fire stations and the ECC together is one of our very active programs at this time.
Another major project that has taken place over the last several years is the South Rose Hill repeater system. Through effective coordination with virtually all City departments, an unused 120 Foot high cell phone tower and equipment building has been put into use to house multiple repeater stations. This make it possible for amateurs from virtually any place in Kirkland to communicate effectively with each other using small, low power hand held radios, as well with amateurs as far away as Skagit, Kitsap, and Pierce Counties.
Our team is encouraged to take part in other community activities where amateur operators exercise their special talents, such as in the support of local parades, runs, marathons, cruises, and the like, where they can provide a service to their community.