Red Cross Unit Compliments Amateur Radio Assistance During Isabel

The sight of advancing Hurricane Isabel--then a category 2 storm--as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on September 18. [NASA Photo]

NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 26, 2003--Amateur Radio assistance in the Hurricane Isabel relief and recovery stage has continued this week in the Southeast. Ham radio's role has drawn compliments from the American Red Cross of Central Maryland, which praised the amateurs' overwhelming dedication to their communities.

"I want to thank the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the amateur radio community for coming out and supporting the American Red Cross over the critical 72 hours when Hurricane Isabel passed over Maryland," said Frank M. Eilbacher, KC0EKL, a Red Cross disaster communications lead. "We recognize you took time away from your families and, for some of you, your own personal disasters to support us."

Eilbacher said that during the storm's peak on the morning of September 18, electrical power and telecommunication problems abounded, but ham radio operators "filled the gap providing a crucial communication link between Red Cross chapters and shelter locations." He noted that in the Central Maryland Chapter's territory, amateur operators staffed state and county emergency operating centers and shelters, as well as the Maryland/Delaware American Red Cross Hurricane Watch Center.

The Salvation Army also has responded to affected areas including North Carolina, where Hurricane Isabel came ashore September 18. Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) volunteer Carlos Varon, K2LCV, from Flushing, New York, this week accompanied two Salvation Army canteen units from New York City to Morehead City, encountering heavy rain and wind on the way. Unlicensed members of The Salvation Army team have been using Family Radio Service transceivers to keep in touch with each other.

Varon, who took along his "orange box" portable ham station, reports the Salvation Army has been operating up to a half dozen field canteens in the immediate area and many more throughout the state. He expects to be in North Carolina for 10 days.

Carteret County Emergency Coordinator Rich Wright, KR4NU, and his ARES team have been supporting the SATERN operation. Five radio operators were deployed this week to provide communication between the canteens and the local command post. Plans call for expanding the operation to shadows some Salvation Army officers. Varon has been working out of a Salvation Army warehouse facility, expediting the deployment of necessities bound for storm victims.

SATERN National Director Pat McPherson, WW9E, reports The Salvation Army is providing relief to affected residents and emergency response workers in North Carolina, Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland, as well as in smaller communities.

Earlier this week, ARRL North Carolina Section Manager John Covington, W4CC, reported that some ARES teams were providing communication support for localities--most in the hard-hit northeastern portion of the state--that still lacked power and telephone service. Covington said hams were providing point-to-point communication between shelters and emergency operations centers in affected counties. In one community, hams were helping a fire dispatch center that had lost its antennas in the storm.

Venturing Crew 80 members Andrea Knutsen (foreground) and Lisa Harman, WE4BSA, at Field Day 2002. [Bill Schmitt, KD4CNS, Photo]

In keeping with the Boy Scout motto, "Be prepared," Venturing Crew 80 of Alexandria--in Northern Virginia just outside Washington, DC--responded to requests for assistance from the Alexandria EOC and Fairfax ARES as Hurricane Isabel approached. The venture crew specializes in emergency communication and first aid and counts several ARES members among its members and leadership. Some of the scouts remained on duty for several days.

Venture crew members helped to support communication at the Alexandria and Fairfax EOCs, at the Alexandria American Red Cross chapter house and at Red Cross shelters in both communities. At the chapter house, crew members also helped Red Cross personnel to assemble food, water, cots, blankets and emergency medical gear for distribution to the shelters and handled radio traffic among the EOC, Red Cross and the shelters. At the shelters, other crew members and leaders provided radio communication and first aid support.

While distributing bulk bottled water to homes lacking running water, crew volunteers got to meet--and have their pictures taken with--Virginia Gov Mark Warner, who was visiting a shelter to thank volunteers.

Venturing Crew 80 is sponsored by the First Christian Church of Alexandria and the Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club. Many of the scouts and adult leaders have become Amateur Radio licensees and acquired emergency medical care training and certification. The crew's adult leadership offers a Technician class each year.

Members of the Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club and the Alexandria Radio Club also provided communications support to Alexandria and Fairfax operations. Repeaters operated by both clubs were used during the emergency response.

"Things are still messy down here, and some of us are still recovering," said Bill Stewart, W2BSA, a Venture Crew 80 chartered organization representative and committee member. "Most of Northern Virginia has power. The biggest problem we have had is flooding." Stewart said the DC area got another five inches of rain September 23 on the heels of Hurricane Isabel.

Power has begun to return to the half-million or so residents who still had none at the new week began. ARRL Virginia Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Gregory, N4NW, reports commercial power finally returned to his home September 24. He'd spent 141 hours of running his home on an emergency back-up generator. Gregory, who lives in Stafford County, Virginia, lost electrical power on September 18. He has strongly advised amateurs involved in public service communications to have a supply of emergency power available for such situations, so they can remain on the air.

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