Bonner County ARES® Who are we? K7BNR Dave Merritt W7FYV Emergency Coordinator www.bonnerares.org Rev. September 2016

What do the Initials Mean? ARES® – Amateur Radio Emergency Service For over 75 years Amateur Radio operators have donated their personal time and equipment free of charge to those in need during emergencies where normal communications systems have become overloaded or damaged. RACES – Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service To assist professional government emergency managers in a time of crisis, at their request, and at no charge. FCC no longer issues RACES licenses and Kern County does not enroll Disaster Service Workers anymore.

A PRE-DEPLOYED FORCE MULTIPLIER We are simply: A PRE-DEPLOYED FORCE MULTIPLIER

Our Mission Statement The Bonner County Amateur Radio Emergency Service is a field organization of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). It is composed of FCC licensed amateur radio operators who are trained emergency communicators. We volunteer our personal time, skill, and equipment if requested by a Served Agency, national, state, or local Emergency Manager. We will endeavor to supplement, extend or replace impacted commercial or government communications systems in an emergency or public service situation. We will use our own, served agency, or government-provided, amateur radio equipment and systems.  

Our Purpose   Amateur Radio is not a replacement for Public Safety or governmental agencies, but acts to serve those Public Safety and non governmental organizations in a subordinate capacity. Amateur Radio enables Public Safety agencies to focus on their primary role by freeing them from tasks that do not fall within their daily mission. Amateur Radio is particularly well suited to serve the logistical communications requirements of an Incident Command System, thereby keeping critical Public Safety radio services free for more critical tasks. Amateur Radio is also well suited to provide communications infrastructure, which can be used as a replacement for failed public communications infrastructure. Amateur Radio can provide communications services to non-governmental organizations, such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Reserve Medical Corps or National Weather Service in time of disaster.

Currently we partner with: Bonner County Emergency Mgmt. Bonner General Health Other public & private groups involved in emergency preparedness and communications.

What do we do? EMERGENCIES ARE A TEAM SPORT For Served Agencies We work for them – they don’t work for us! EMERGENCIES ARE A TEAM SPORT We feel more at home in communications Radio, Phones, Fax, Copying, Logging, Distributing info, etc. Shadowing key personnel Providing communications on delivery of goods or equipment Staging, Logistics Sheltering - record keeping, ARRL emergency messages. Message handling – Emergency, Priority, Routine, Welfare GOAL – GET ACCURATE TIMELY INFORMATION TO County Emergency Operation Center (EOC) or a SERVED AGENCY.

Neighborhood HamWatch There are about 325 hams in Bonner County 24/7 – at home, in the car, at work or school Eyes, ears, and voices, with radios If organized - capable of communicating Real time situation status about roads, bridges, and critical infrastructure Linking the “Last Mile” Preventing communication isolation 1. QRZ.com 12-7-2012