Bid: $RACESBUL.357
Subject: BUL357 Wildfire Roles 2/2

TO: EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES VIA AMATEUR RADIO
INFO:    COMMUNICATIONS VOLUNTEERS IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE
INFO:    AMATEURS U.S  (@USA: INFORMATION), CAP, MARS, RACES
FROM:    CA STATE AUXILIARY COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE, the
        volunteer communications reserve of the Governor's
        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.
        Internet crm@oes.ca.gov or seh@oes.ca.gov

Bulletin 357  OPS - Wildfire Roles 2/2
Release Date: December 19, l994

Continuation:

"Once again we proved the invaluable service that
we as a group of trained volunteers can provide in times of
emergency. Comments made to us from county fire and police
officers proved this out. There were times that we were the only
reliable means of getting information to these groups as all
their communications were overloaded. At one point, we were the
ONLY way available to the local fire department to find out where
the fire lines were.

I hope you'll get involved in your local
RACES and ARES programs. It's not enough to respond to an
emergency. Without the proper training provided by ARES and
RACES, you can be of little help. A trained pool of volunteer
communicators can be invaluable in the saving of lives and
property. There is no way that the public sector can provide the
manpower and equipment to handle these emergencies. Your
assistance is needed.
---By Tim Low, N6ZUC@KJ6VC.#SOCA.CA.USA.NA

* * * *  The preceding report underlines the importance of
training by and with local government officials and its ACS,
RACES or equivalent personnel. Such personnel provide Public
Safety communications and services for state and local
governments. Such training and know-how cannot be obtained out of
publications and printed references alone. Your volunteers cannot
operate in a vacuum. They deserve your regular attention,
management and encouragement. Don't leave absolutely everything
up to your Radio Officer to serve as a buffer between you and
your unpaid staff. To do so will doom the volunteer program to
failure. We seek more reports, such as that by Tim Low, to
describe the separate but vital roles of those in the RACES and
the ARES.

To our Eastern and some other readers we must point
out that, in the West, for any emergency imaginable, there is
always a government agency charged by law to respond to that
emergency and never a volunteer group answerable to no one. We
appreciate that the latter reflects the spirit of volunteerism of
over 200 years in some states, but that condition is dwindling.
We cannot self-dispatch ourselves. Volunteers are answerable in
every case to a designated authority. It is for those authorities
and their coordinated volunteers that these BULLETINS are
addressed.

Thank you one and all. ---Stan Harter, California State Office of
Emergency Services,     KH6GBX@WA6NWE.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NA