1 MGTMUAD1 Version 1. 3 3/1/92 Subject: MUTUAL AID [Category:MGT] MUTUAL AID DEFINED AND HOW IT APPLIES TO COMMUNICATIONS. Question: You talk about mutual aid. We don't have that here. What does it mean? Answer: Mutual aid comes from planning between municipalities, counties or parishes, and states to provide emergency resources from other governments if and when required. Mutual aid in this context goes beyond automatic response by one fire department to support another department near their mutual borders. In California, mutual aid is provided for by law and is one of the responsibilities of local government emergency management/civil defense, law enforcement, and fire fighting agencies to plan for and implement mutual aid. Communications, too, is a resource necessary to any incident command system. Volunteers are -- or can be -- a part of this mutual aid resource. The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), or by whatever name your government calls their Amateur Radio section, is a part of a government's communications resource. The mutual aid system, properly planned, can be an excellent and cost effective system. The absence of mutual aid can contribute to the needless loss of life and property. The volunteers, of course, should be covered by the same benefits and protection provided paid employees. Stan Harter, KH6GBX, RB201 MUTUAL AID COMMUNICATIONS The foundation of California's disaster planning is a statewide system of mutual aid in which each local jurisdiction relies on its own resources, then calls for assistance from its neighbors -- city to city, city to county, county to county, and finally, through one of the OES regional offices, to the state. A Master Mutual Aid Agreement has been adopted by most cities of California and by all its 58 counties. This creates a formal structure within which each jurisdiction retains control of its own personnel and facilities but can give and receive help whenever it is needed. The state is signatory to this agreement and provides available resources to assist local jurisdictions in emergencies. The state is divided into six regions, with six regional offices (Los Angeles, Pleasant Hill, Redding, Sacramento, Fresno, and Ontario) staffed by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services ("State OES") to coordinate these activities. Through this mutual aid system the Governor's office receives a constant flow of information from every geographic and organizational area of the state. Emergency communications and warning are the keys to response, recovery and survival, and are indeed the fabric that ties all our efforts together following any emergency or disaster to save lives and reduce property damage. Like all jurisdictions, the state must maintain emergency communications systems and provide plans and procedures for their maintenance and use. Our disaster services are based on the concept of mutual aid as described above. In order to provide for a timely response to disasters, statewide, with adequate command and control of the response personnel and resources, two major communications categories have been identified. One is the WARNING effort which provides for the exchange and dissemination of information regarding potential emergencies on a continuing basis. Currently, State OES has direct hotline telephone contact with 50 states and 46 California counties. Alternate warning channels are available to all 58 counties by the microwave connected California Law Enforcement Radio System (CLERS) and the California Law Enforcement Teletype Systems (CLETS). The warning objective is to disseminate warning information to officials and the public within five to ten minutes. The second category is COMMUNICATION which will provide the essential systems and hardware to exercise direction and control for emergency response throughout the state. The objectives of this element are: - to provide communications for direction and control within state government and to federal government emergency resources; - to provide communication channels for direction and control from state to local government; - to assist local government in providing direction and control within their jurisdictions; - to develop procedures for the utilization of nongovernmental communication resources; - to develop systems and procedures to use the broadcast industry for dissemination of warning and emergency public information of all levels of government; and - to provide for the coordinated use of Amateur Radio operators during periods of disasters. The latter is accomplished on a day-to-day basis by the state and those county and city governments with units established for that purpose -- the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES). The RACES section is usually attached to a local government's emergency preparedness office or to that department it so delegates -- such as the sheriff, fire chief, communications, etc. A disaster does not have to be declared to utilize or train the RACES personnel. The RACES is, in effect, the deputy communicator Amateur Radio operators of and for that local government. They make provisions for the utilization of non-RACES staff Amateurs in time of major need. RB045-047 IMPORTANCE OF THE COMM RESOURCES ORDER FORM To assure that any volunteer on a mutual aid mission is properly covered with insurance and instructions, we use a written form. This protects the volunteer portal to portal, not just while he or she is at the incident. People can and do get hurt enroute or returning home. This is why it is mandatory in California and other states that volunteers be preregistered disaster service workers. We call it the "Communications Resources and Personnel Order" form and encourage its use by any state and local government wherein mutual aid is practiced. We cannot reproduce the form in its actual size in this bulletin but we show all of the line items. Since we adopted this form in 1987, all of our RACES personnel responding to incident assignments report total acceptance by road block law enforcement personnel. Several public safety agencies are impressed and wish that all responders had such paperwork. Such things as badges, identification cards, jackets, caps, or other paraphernalia with logos or alphabet soup seldom carry much weight at roadblocks on large scale incidents. RB146 COMMUNICATIONS RESOURCES AND PERSONNEL ORDER FORM [NAME OF GOVERNMENT] 1. Date/Time 2A. Other's Order number [This may be from forestry or some other agency] 2B. OES number [This is your agency's mission number] 3. REQUESTER (AGENCY AND NAME) 4. WHAT (type of equipment and/or operator required): 5A. WHEN? 5B. UNTIL approximately what date or time. 6. WHERE? 7. ROUTING INSTRUCTIONS: [i.e., how to get there.] 8. EN ROUTE FREQUENCIES 9. UPON ARRIVING, REPORT TO: [name and/or Incident Command title. 10. ESTABLISH/MAINTAIN WHAT POINTS OF COMMUNICATIONS? FREQUENCY? CALLSIGNS?: 11A. WHO SENT? 11B. CALLSIGN(S) 11C. ADDRESS 11D.RES.PHONE 11E. IN WHAT AGENCY DSW REGISTERED? (Use reverse side to enter the same information for any additional personnel responding on this Order) _____Check here if applicable. 12. BRIEFING: [each one of the following items must be checked off by the government official giving the briefing] Briefed on safety and hazards? Reminded to take adequate equipment, supplies, appropriate day and night clothing, money and medications. Sleeping bag/blankets. Drive safely, defensively, headlights on. 13. ORDER PREPARED BY (PRINT) TITLE DIVISION REGION/OFFICE SIGNATURE 14. DATE/TIME ORDER ACCOMPLISHED OR PERSONNEL ENROUTE: 15. HOME OES AGENCY NOTIFIED: RB 147 LATER COMMENTS_COMM RESOURCES ORDER FORM: Reference Bulletins 146 and 147 on this subject, the use of this form perhaps needs clarification after reading the following in an Amateur Radio club monthly publication: "Ye editor begs to differ in one respect. In the fire, my ARES jacket and hat and Sheriff's ID card passed me through all roadblocks. There wasn't time for the nicety of getting such a form nor handing it to a roadblock official to read! Bulletin 147 lists 25 items of The Form, most of which it seems would become outdated at the first shift of resources and far better covered by training, experience and Net Control! Oh well." We agree with what that newsletter editor had to say because he is correct when viewed from a strictly local perspective. Note that he mentioned the use of a Sheriff's ID card and not a non-government ID card. Good! The purpose of the communications resources order form is when resources are brought in under the mutual aid system where fire suppression, law enforcement, communications and other resources may be traveling hundreds of miles. It is not intended, of course, for local incidents. We regret any confusion that this form may have created.] RB168 ESSENTIAL MUTUAL AID RECORDS and INFORMATION RACES personnel helping out on incidents outside of their jurisdiction is a common occurrence. This is part of MUTUAL AID operations and procedures. It is not necessary to be registered as a Disaster Service Worker in more than one jurisdiction. This practice is, in fact, improper. A Volunteer should have only one ID card and should surrender an old card when transferring to a new jurisdiction. As a part of the Communications classification of Disaster Service Workers, all RACES personnel are a part of the CALIFORNIA MASTER MUTUAL AID SYSTEM. To access additional Amateur Radio resources through this system, a jurisdiction contacts the next level up of government. For example, a City Radio Officer would contact the County Radio Officer with the request. The County Radio Officer will coordinate with other city RACES organizations and his own organization to fill the needs. If the County Operational Area organization cannot fill the need, the County Radio Officer contacts their State OES Region RACES Coordinator, who will work with the other counties in the OES Mutual Aid Region to obtain the needed resources. This system does not prohibit the establishment of AUTOMATIC AID AGREEMENTS between the Emergency Management Organizations of two (or more) adjacent jurisdictions; the Regional RACES Coordinator, however, should be advised when an Automatic Aid situation is in progress, so that OES Region staff is aware that resources in those jurisdictions are not available. Accurate records are a prerequisite for Radio Officers at all levels --- city, county and OES Region. Every new Radio Officer needs to develop and maintain a roster of names and telephone numbers for their counterparts in neighboring jurisdictions. If yours is not complete and current, we urge all emergency management agencies and Radio Officers give this top priority. Another bad fire season is predicted. A major earthquake could happen at any time. Your jurisdiction could receive a request through channels to provide RACES operators for an incident hundreds of miles away or even in an adjacent state. This happened in the 1987 fire season and, because RACES was still in the formative or non-extant stage in many jurisdictions, RACES mutual aid response was slow, disorganized and inefficient. Region Radio Officers need to know how to contact every participating county in their Region and, in some cases, cities. Every county Radio Officer should know the names and telephone numbers of their Region, cities, and adjoining county Radio Officers. It is a common practice for jurisdictions to equip their Radio Officers with a radio pager. We recommend this practice. RB015 Any level calling for mutual aid assistance usually requests a specific number of personnel, the personal skills required, and the type and quantity of communication equipment required. A Radio Officer or agency should not put out a call for "all available Amateurs report to --- ." Whenever possible we will try to pre-alert jurisdictions to the possibility of a mutual aid callup so that you will be better prepared with an answer if and when you are called. In major incidents that are common knowledge, you should survey your resource availability before you are called for mutual aid. Then, if possible or appropriate, report to the next higher echelon Radio Officer what you have willing and able to respond; i.e., city to county, county to State OES Region, Region to OES Headquarters. Many mutual aid requests may come direct to State OES Headquarters (from CDF, USFS, etc.); it helps us a lot when we have heard from those Regions that have RACES resources available to respond. Those Regions with hams ready to go will usually get the nod. There are increasing requests for ATV (Amateur TV). Radio Officers should develop who and where they are on their data base. We also request that all ATV teams be reported now to your State OES Region Office so that we may build an ATV data base. What is required are the principal contact names and telephone/pager numbers. All Radio Officers (at all levels) should include all ARRL EC's (Emergency Coordinators) in their resource data base. There are many hams whose services are available only in a crisis or on an infrequent basis and choose not to be a member of a RACES unit. This is why we urge all hams to register as Disaster Service Workers so that they can serve without any administrative delays. By the same token, we expect ARRL EC's to keep RACES officials posted with any information necessary to achieve and maintain close coordination.RB016 MACS - Multi-Agency Coordination System We share the following with you for evaluation for possible use in your jurisdiction. Submitted by Derald Smith, Assistant Director, City of Stockton, California, Office of Emergency Services. The Multi-Agency Coordination System (MACS), an extension of the Incident Command System, streamlines procedures for coordinating mutual aid and allocating resources during emergencies when more than one agency or jurisdiction is involved in the response. The system has been adopted by the San Joaquin County Fire Chiefs and is under review by other probable users. RACES operators should note and remember the following new terminology already in use to denote response operating modes; in other words, the intensity of response. MODE 1: A non-critical county-wide situation not requiring extended use of multi-agency resources. Emergency Operating Centers not on 24-hour operations. Normal communications sufficient. MODE 2: A period of heightened preparation, such as seasonal anticipation of fog, fires, peak high tides. In this mode, OES and its RACES will review procedures and equipment status. The RACES possibly on standby. MODE 3: Alert to an emergency or more serious potential requiring multi-agency response. EOC's partially activated and staffed; RACES alerted and selectively employed. MODE 4: Signifies the existence of an all-out county effort requiring concerted multi-agency coordination. EOC's and the RACES fully activated. RB191 RESPONDING TO A MUTUAL AID MISSION RACES personnel do not and should not self-dispatch themselves to mutual aid incidents. Every Amateur authorized to respond should be provided: 1. Destination & mission; i.e., where, what to do & resource request order number. 2. The name and/or title of the official and agency to which he/she is to report. 3. A clear definition and understanding of what to take, what to wear, how long the volunteer may remain on the mission, route of travel, a safety and hazards briefing, and any other information pertinent to the successful accomplishment of the mission. 4. Specific instructions on what communications is to be provided. 5. Exact name, title and organization authorizing the response. 6. Enroute frequencies for subsequent instructions, reports, redirection or recall. Note: State OES has a form for this purpose for use by any jurisdiction. RB002 FOOTNOTE TO BULLETINS-BY-TOPIC This material is the result of the interest of people from many areas around the country. Their ideas, questions and suggestions were then put into these bulletin formats by Stanly Harter, KH6GBX, State Races Coordinator, Office of Emergency Services, 2800 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, California 95832 between l985 and l992. Input and comments are welcomed by mail or packet radio to W6HIR @ WA6NWE.#NOCAL.CA [Telephone 916-427-4281.]