Emergency Communication School Vertex Radios Dr. Colin Sprigg Tim Catlin Rafael Waites

On November 13 th, Schools in the ABC Unified District along with districts across Southern California, will participate in a Disaster Drill called “The Great Southern California Shake Out” For the purpose of this drill ABC Unified will simulate power, water, cell phone and land line disruptions.

EARTHQUAKE DRILL Procedures

Drill Initiation At approximately 10 AM the district Drill Officer will send a simultaneous broadcast to each school’s emergency monitoring station to simulate the earthquake. For Earthquake sound effects you can play over your PA System go to this link:

In most emergency situations within our schools the Phone System, Cell Phones, Fax Machines and Blackberries should still be operable. However, this drill simulates a 7.4 earthquake which causes major damage to our infrastructure. We will not utilize these resources during this earthquake simulation. We will utilize our school and district Vertex emergency radios.

The district office and each school will conduct a “Drop, Cover and Hold” exercise lasting for two minutes. 2 minutes is the estimated time of shaking from a 7.2 quakes For Earthquake sound effects you can play over your PA System go to this link:

DROP to the ground COVER under a sturdy desk or table. HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.

Evacuate and Activate EOP After earthquake, Evacuate staff and students Activate you school’s EOP (Emergency Operations Plan)

Vertex Radio - Channels 2 and 3 Communications The Incident Command must have one Vertex Radio tuned to the District Wide Emergency Channel 3 at all times. All schools’ “in-house” communications (i.e. school search and rescue, medical teams and custodians, etc.) must be on Vertex radio Channel 2, or on another in-house network of hand-held radios.

Immediately after quake: 1. Incident Command - Tune Vertex Radio to Channel 3 Only one radio should dedicated to communicate with the District Channel 3 must remain open for use during District wide emergencies. The Incident Commanders (or designee) should be the schools’ only point of contact to the District EOC. School information and situation reports need to be conveyed accurately, avoids duplicate transmissions and confusion. The PIO (Public Info Offer) may play a role here. 2. Other SEMS Support Staff using Vertex radios communicate on Channel 2. (Search and Rescue, Medical, Attendance, Student Release, etc..) should communicate on Channel 2, or other in-house network of handheld radios. 3. District (non school staff) CERT or S&R Teams using vertex radios communicate on channel 16 Channel 3 - District Emergency Channel ALL School Have the same channel 3 Channel 2 - Private Campus communication (within specific campus) Channel 16 Open Campus Communications (between campuses) PRINT THIS PAGE AND POST NEAR VERTEX EMERGENCY RADIOS Vertex Radio Channels 2 and 3 Communications

ABC Unified School Vertex Radio Channels The following represent the basic ABC Unified preset channel configuration for School Vertex Radios: CH 1 - Long range, Only radios programmed with the district and school code will be able to hear the broadcast. Ch 2 - Normal on campus communication. Only on-site school staff can hear transmissions. Signal is not relayed by the repeater. This channel should be used by schools’ SEM staff. Ch 3 - Emergency Long Range Channel, All ABCUSD Vertex radios are programmed to communicate to district with signal relayed by the repeater (power boost located at M and O). This channel will be used during District wide emergencies. Only the IC will communicate to District via channel 3 in the event of emergency. CH - 16 Mixed use Channel. Does not require or utilize repeater resources and allows for non-school staff or mixed schools to communicate with each other. Typical use is for mixed school communications during sporting events or inter-school events which requires radios from various sources within the ABC District to communicate with one another.

School Incident Commanders (or designee) will tune their vertex radios to channel 3 and listen for instructions from the District EOC. Do not attempt to contact the district EOC. Use this time to obtain information about the status of your students and campus from the IC as he/she receives reports from campus S&R or CERT Teams. District EOC will immediately roll call each school to establish 1 st contact and will frequently poll schools for updates to status reports. Please resist the urge to contact the district. District PIO will be the only liaison to provide information to Outside Agencies, Police, Fire, News media, etc. This ensures quality and accurate information being released. The PIO works with Incident Commanders to craft external messages. Communications Protocol

Status Report The District EOC will roll call for status reports. Only the IC (or designee) for each school should respond. PIO’s may be utilized working in tandem with Incident Commander. Use plain language..