Bid: $RACESBUL.338
Subject: RB338 EMA Assistance Available


From: W6WWW@KD6XZ.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NOAM
To  : RACES@ALLUS

TO: ALL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES VIA AMATEUR RADIO
INFO:    ALL COMMUNICATIONS VOLUNTEERS IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE
INFO:    ALL AMATEURS U.S   (@USA: INFORMATION); CAP, MARS
FROM:    CA GOVERNORS OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES
         (W6SIG@WA6NWE.CA)            Ph: 916-262-1600
         2800 Meadowview Rd., Sacramento, CA  95832
         Landline BBS  Open to All: 916-262-1657

RACESBUL.338  SUBJECT: MGT - EMA Assistance Available
RELEASE DATE: August 8, 1994

    These bulletins serve multiple purposes both for the
civil defense or the emergency management agency and the program
participants.

    For the agency a major purpose is to assist it in the use
of emergency communications volunteers as unpaid staff. How to
best use them can be very satisfying. Having qualified extended
staff (albeit it unpaid) can provide astonishing benefits to the
agency and the community.
    Material and other assistance about this is available
upon request. Assistance includes on-site seminars for local
government, the emergency management agency and the program
participants. Materials range from policy and guideline
suggestions to actual emergency communications plan preparation
customized to the local needs. A particularly valuable resource
is the State OES manual "Establishing and Maintaining an
Emergency Communications Reserve", which is based on the
information bulletins to Emergency Management Agencies issued by
the Auxiliary Communications Service from l985-1993.  [Free to
California jurisdictions. Others may request a copy with a $12
check payable to the State of California. ]

For the program participants a major purpose is to discover how
to function as "unpaid staff" of the agency alongside the paid
staff; i.e., how to become an integral part of the agencies
day-to-day activity. How to benefit both the participant and the
agency by skills other than "just operating a radio", and the
unheralded rewards and deep sense of a worthwhile contribution
that ensue. With the expansion of Public Safety communications
systems there is a real need for augmentation of staff (albeit
unpaid) capable of providing maintenance and operation of these
systems during extended emergencies. The use of Public Safety
systems by program participants can range from augmenting 911
systems to the emergency installation, maintenance and operation
of local government radios.

    One example of such an integrated emergency
communications program is illustrated by the publication "State
of California Governors Office of Emergency Services Emergency
Communications Reserve, the Auxiliary Communications Service".
How it is implemented and designed is set forth in the 1994 plan
of the same title distributed to California counties and State
and Federal agencies without charge. Others may request a copy
with a $11 check payable to the State of California. Mail to
Office of Emergency Services, ACS Program, Telecommunications
Branch, 2800 Meadowview Rd, Sacramento, Ca 95832. For more
information call or write: Stan Harter or Cary Mangum
916-262-1600.