The Kittitas County Auxilliary Communications Service (KCACS) is a group of amateur radio operators located in Kittitas County, WA, who are engaged with working with the Kittitas County Department of Emergency Management to provide communications and expertise during times of emergency, or for public service related events. ACS uses, at its core, the training and practices of both ARES and RACES, and builds on the principles found in the National Incident Management System from FEMA. In addition, with additional training, ACS operators can be involved in providing communications for situations where Amateur Radio is not always an option.

Listed below is some information on training available from FEMA. Independent Study courses from FEMA are available via web delivery. Kittitas County ACS recommends the following courses: ICS-100, ICS-200, ICS-700, ICS-800

We will be looking at ways to incorporate people with differing levels of experience during the upcoming year. If you're interested in learning more about Emergency Communications, and Kittitas County ACS, please contact George, KK7AHR, the KCACS AUX Manager.

If you are looking to be involved in Emergency Communications, the ARRL requires FEMA independent study courses as part of their training program.

To enter the FEMA training, you must first obtain a FEMA Student Identification Number (SID). That can be obtained at: FEMA Student Identificaton System.

Online training is found at: FEMA Emergency Management Institute.

To find out more about ARES at the ARRL website, go to: ARRL: Amateur Radio Emergency Service. For more information on ARRL training, go to: ARRL: Emergency Communications Training.

For those of you who are interested in building a go-kit, here's a RATPAC video about building a go-kit that fits your specific needs. There are many different lists and guides on how to build and populate a go-kit, and the list of items can be quite large. This video helps you tailor your kit, or modular kits, to fit your activites or areas of focus. The presentation is about 27 minutes, and the Q & A lasts for another half-hour. Link to the RATPAC video.