DISASTER COUNCIL MEETING
April 22, 1997
"...I must also tell you that I have been frankly fascinated with that unpaid group of people with those ham radios, the Auxiliary Communications Service. Now they are maybe the most active of all the volunteers. They are virtually over at the office every time I go over there. And I suspect that they hang out there. Now they're an interested group of people."It is a communication system though, that I think now covers practically every community in San Francisco, and in some cases damn near every block in San Francisco, for emergency communication purposes, which means that a wireless system that seldom if ever can be totally disrupted by a disaster is within our grasp, and we are able to use. "Obviously the cell phones play a role in that now, but the ham radio operators are the heart and the soul and the life blood of that system. And so we do have a system that is virtually communications disruptive proof in terms of being able to do the communications that we may need to do. "There is also, I think, a level of training enjoyed by these people to carry out their task, and some method to identify them visibly in case of a disaster when they go into their operations mode." |
The ACS newsletter is sent to those who indicate an interest in emergency communications by the way they respond to the ACS Web page (see below.)
In the issue in which the above was published, the following also appeared:
"One of the biggest concerns we have is the ability for the government to recognize the efforts of the local volunteer community BEFORE the emergency takes place. I think it's pretty safe to say that the San Francisco ACS IS recognized. Our compliments to San Francisco for a job well done! --Dave Larton, Training Officer ([email protected]) Auxiliary Communications Service Information Technology Branch Governor's Office of Emergency Services" |