By DWIGHT F. BLINT
Courant Staff Writer

February 25 2005

NEWINGTON -- About 50 amateur radio operators are coming to town Saturday for disaster training.

The ham radio operators, who are members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Services, will be learning how to help their communities in case of a disaster.

The training session, which is being held at the Newington Fire Department on Main Street, is helping to prepare the operators for Top Off, an emergency preparedness drill that will involve Connecticut, New Jersey, the federal Department of Homeland Security and a number of other countries. The drill is scheduled for April.

"There have been other disaster drills, but nothing of this scale before in Connecticut," said Chuck Rexroad, the ARES coordinator for the state.

Amateur Radio Emergency Services is a national program of the American Radio Relay League, which has headquarters in Newington.

A primary focus of the emergency preparedness training will be to show radio operators how to assist the Red Cross and the Office of Emergency Management, and how to work with the National Incident Management System, which is used by police and fire departments to coordinate their efforts during emergencies.

"We'll be talking about how to handle messages," said Rexroad.

During the April drill, local amateur radio operators will practice communicating with state, federal and international agencies, sending messages between Red Cross shelters and sending status updates to the Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Rexroad said training amateur radio operators is important because during a disaster, they might be the only ones who can communicate when telephones aren't working.

Many amateur radio owners have batteries that allow them to set up in any location and operate uninterrupted for up to a few days.

Rexroad said that during an emergency, a radio operator could help to make sure that medical supplies, cots, blankets, food and water get to their proper locations.

"In the event of an emergency, they might be the only way people in shelters can send word out that they are okay," said Rexroad.

Source: Hartford Courant
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant