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

Bulletins 251-255 covered several aspects of communications unit mutual aid in California pursuant to SEMS and RIMS, along with an actual case example. To recap the process:

SEMS and RIMS procedure calls for the mutual aid request to go through the following links:

• County (which is the Operational Area or OA) to
• Region Emergency Operations Center (REOC), where it goes from Operations (input) to Logistics (do it), ** to
• State Region Telecommunications or Emergency Services Coordinator to Region ACS Officer to
• OA paid staff coordinator in other counties (OA's) to
• Local OA (county) Radio Officer, who obtains the resources and coordinates them back through the State OES Region ACS Officer.

** ICS structure mandated by state law

However, due to the nature of Emergency Communications and events in progress, the request may flow in this manner after local area (OA) mobilization

• OA (County EOC) to
• State OES Emergency Services Coordinator and/or State OES Telecommunications Coordinator - and then to
• Region ACS Officer (RACSO) - goes to REOC where the mission number is assigned by Operations, and then the reverse chain is notified and briefed.
• Region ACS Officer contacts each of several OA's to determine if they will supply ACS mutual aid; then, IF authorized, the
• Region ACS Officer contacts the OA ACS/RACES Officer to make detailed arrangements to fill the request.
• Following return calls from source counties as to available resources, Region ACS Officer coordinates the assignments and
• Contacts the respective RO's in OA# 2, 3, 4, 5 (source of ACS/RACES resources) with the mission and incident ID's and needed information to coordinate exact duties, travel routes, arrival points, and operation locations.

Demobilization:

• When demobilizations at OA#1 begins, the requesting OA#1 RO notifies the Region ACS Officer, who notifies the source OA Radio Officers of released resources.
• When all resources of each responding OA arrive back at that OA, the source OA Radio Officer notifies the Region ACSO
• When ALL resources have returned to their supplying OA, the Region ACS Officer contacts REOC Operations and requests that the mission be closed.

To enhance and create a useful standard of EMCOMM Unit positions so the parties are talking about the same resource, the Inland Region ACS Officer, with the aid of many others in the OA's, devised a set of positions descriptions for use in the OA's and Regions. OA ACS or RACES Officers can obtain a copy from their Region ACS Officer. A copy may be posted to the ACS web page.

ACS/RACES communications mutual aid occurs infrequently in comparison with fire and law mutual aid. It is still in an evolving stage. The infrequent use of EMCOMM mutual aid makes it more prone to miscues than would that of the more robust and time-tested disciplines. It takes cooperation in the EMCOMM community for the mutual aid between OA's to occur anywhere near the same level of professional results of more experienced modalities. A good start has been made in this process.

Series end.

Cary Mangum, W6WWW - E-mail: [email protected]

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Submit suggestions, topics or comments on the bulletins to Cary Mangum, State ACS Officer, California. (W6WWW), [email protected] or [email protected]

Bulletins archives: ACS Web page: acs.oes.ca.gov, ftp.ucsd.edu/emcomm or ftp.oes.ca.gov/ACS/EMCOMM and a Landline BBS at 916-255-0798 (graphical & standard interface)

EOM