Report on RACES activity of April 1, 1996 Paramount Furniture Co. Fire - Sturgis, MI

Notification: Roberta (Bert) Carroll WB8MWV, the St. Joseph Co. EC, notified me by pager of a Races operation in St. Joseph County.

The time of notification was approximately 18:30 hours. I requested that Chuck WD8AXA , contact Bert on the Centreville-145.310 repeater. Chuck acquired details of the Paramount Furniture fire. He then informed me that there had been a disastrous fire at an abandoned factory in Sturgis, and the adjacent neighborhood was damaged and subsequently evacuated. Chuck also conveyed the continuing role of the St. Joseph County amateur radio operators. I was informed that the hams on scene were being used as observers of the fire ground perimeter. Bert's concern was that the operation was going to continue into the night and that their manpower was limited. I agreed to commit the Kalamazoo County Races group as a mutual-aid provider to the St. Joseph Co./Sturgis operation.

Deployment:

Exercising the Kalamazoo County RACES Plan, I activated the calling tree with the message "There is an ongoing RACES operation in St. Joseph County. Kalamazoo County Races may be needed as mutual aid later this evening. If you are available, make contact with net control on the 147.00 repeater." I then assigned the task of net control to Jim N8QOH. This left me free to conduct several other tasks.

We queried WB8MWV as to any immediate equipment needs. It was agreed that a portable VHF base station would be useful. Chuck WD8AXA and Mindy KB8CRT volunteered to fill the advance team role specified in our RACES plan. They picked up the "Portable Base Station" and antenna from the Kalamazoo County EOC and headed for Sturgis.

Around 20:00 I established contact with Gordon VanGelder, the Kalamazoo County Emergency Management Director. I explained the situation as we understood it at the time, and advised him that the possibility existed that we would need to conduct a large operation, possibly including the AVCOM mobile communications center. Gordon, and I discussed the unusual role of using amateur radio operators for a "security type" role. We decided that there had probably not been proper communications between the City of Sturgis, St. Joseph County, and the Michigan State Police. (i.e. no flash report.) We noted that if there had been a similar incident in Kalamazoo County, the Sheriff's Dept Mounted Division or State Troopers would be used in this role, and Races would be used as communications support provider. We discussed the current lack of information and the mutual-aid role we were expecting to provide.

Operations: Our advance team arrived at Sturgis at 21:30. Chuck assessed the situation from our perspective, and submitted a situation report via the 147.000 Kalamazoo Amateur Radio Club repeater. The sitrep indicated that our manpower would in fact, still be needed to support the services the St. Joseph Co. hams were providing. Further sitrep information indicated that our radio operators must be dressed for cold weather conditions, and would need flashlights as well as their normal disaster communications equipment. At this time, our net control had registered the following hams available for duty assignments. WD8AXA, KB8CRT, NK8X, N8QOH, KB8UPW, KB8SFR, N8MOV, N8EQR, KA8RWL. After conferring with the advance team, I decided that the deployment of the AVCOM mobile communications center, was in order. Since it was quite cold outside and snow was expected in the morning, AVCOM would be used as a command post for our operation. The following amateurs were assigned to deploy AVCOM: NK8X, KB8SFR, N8MOV, N8EQR, KA8RWL. In addition, KB8UPW was sent directly to Sturgis as additional manpower.

N8QOH continued his net control operation, with N8QQG to relieve him on Tuesday morning. KA8RWL used his computer to print copies of a detailed map of the disaster scene. Net control stations were given the task of coordinating manpower assignments and accounting for radio operators.

Communications: The AVCOM public safety radios were programmed and tested on the Sturgis PD channel and on St Joseph Co. fire frequency. The MSP/RED CROSS radio and the amateur radio equipment was activated. The link to the Kalamazoo net control was maintained on the 147.00 repeater. Local operations continued on 146.520MHz simplex. Net controls informed Races members arriving on the scene to establish contact with the command post on 146.520 simplex. Logistics: AVCOM arrived on scene at 23:30 and was fully operational by 23:45.

AVCOM provided a R&R point for the operators who were already on the scene. AVCOM was set up in the parking lot of the MESC building. This location was chosen because it was upwind of the fire scene. There was no AC power available at this location. AVCOM 's power needs were met initially from the on board, propane powered generator. The propane also powered the heater. WD8AXA requested an auxiliary generator from the Sturgis FD. The FD provided a 2 KW, gasoline powered generator which made our operation more quiet , while conserving our propane for the heater. Gasoline for the generator was provided by the Sturgis PD. Operations were routine until our shift change at 05:00.

Summary of Briefings:

05:00 Tuesday: Operators W8CJP, W8AGW, WD8AXB relieved the initial AVCOM team.

10:00 Tuesday: Bert advised us that Sturgis requested AVCOM and the RACES operation to remain operational throughout the day and into the evening. Hams will be used for perimeter duty, and escorts for persons needing to retrieve personal items from their homes in the secured area.

13:00 Tuesday: WB8CFV arrived in Sturgis.

15:00 Tuesday: AVCOM to be deployed through Wednesday morning. Operators scheduled to provide service: KG8IP, WB8CFV, KB8VGF, AA8RB, KA8RST Propane tanks may need to be filled. The AVCOM team was unable to get tanks refilled by local refilling station. NK8X suggests that we might want to consider contacting the DEC WD8MWT to provide more manpower if we are expected to provide service for an extended period of time.

23:00 Tuesday: Kalamazoo operators N8XIO, KB8SFR, KB8UWA, WB8CFV, AA8RB, KB8VGF. N8XIO to remain with AVCOM until 0500. N8EQR and KA8RWL agree to report at 0600. KB8YVR assumed net control duty from N8QQG on the 147.00 repeater. WD8AXA on scene replacing propane tanks on AVCOM. The Fire Department has left scene. We are to report any rekindles. WB8MWV to arrive at 2AM.

07:00 Wednesday: 4/3/96 Everything is returning to normal on scene. Residents are being allowed limited access to homes. Waiting for permission to release AVCOM. Kalamazoo operators on scene: N8EQR, KA8RWL. KB8YVR released as net control.

10:00 Wednesday: KF8TJ, NK8X enroute to Sturgis to retrieve AVCOM which was to be released at 12:00.

13:30 Wednesday: AVCOM returned to quarters. All personnel released. Mission Completed. 4/5/96 Critique 19:30 @ Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Dept. Meeting notes were compiled by N8QOH. Almost all Kalamazoo Co. operators involved in this operation were in attendance. Gordon VanGelder also in attendance.

Respectfully Submitted,