- What's the difference between
St. Louis County ARES®
and St. Louis County RACES?
St. Louis County RACES is run by Mike Redman of the St. Louis
County Office of Emergency Management. It operates the SKYWARN
program in St. Louis County for the local office of the National
Weather Service. It primarily focuses on real-time
severe weather events.
St. Louis County ARES® is
managed by the Missouri Section of the American Radio Relay League.
It focuses on real-time and post-disaster communications
emergencies. It provides backup and alternative communications
to local agencies whose own systems have failed or are overwhelmed.
- Can I belong to both organizations?
Sure. Many of us do. In most cases your services will
not be needed by both organizations at the same time.
- Can I join more than one ARES®
team?
Most disaster and relief organizations discourage you from
'wearing too many hats'.
They want to know that if they train you, you will make a
reasonable effort to make yourself available to them during a
disaster. If you join several organizations that will need your
services at the same time, you may be asked to declare a
'primary allegiance'.
- When are you guys going to do something?
For every moment of glory there are hundreds of man-hours
of preparation. We have been painstakingly building the
organization, learning, training and preparing ourselves,
making contacts, pursuing served agencies, and recruiting.
All of these are slow processes and require a lot of dedication,
patience, and hard work.
We are working to finalize agreements with several served agencies.
We are also working to recruit enough members to perform the tasks
at hand. We will have a more 'visible' presence once we've
accomplished these goals.
- When you have a real emergency, can I help?
The time to get involved is now. Join us. Let us
train you and help you prepare. Let us learn what your strengths,
talents, and interests are. We won't have time to do any of
this when a real emergency arises.
- I'm not sure if I'm ready to join. What should
I do?
There are several things you can do while you consider
whether or not to join. You can check-in
to our weekly 2 meter net without being a member. You can
monitor our on-air exercises. You can drop by our table
at area hamfests. Or you can contact our Emergency Coordinator
(see contacts page) directly.
He will be happy to answer all of your questions.
