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The
Aftermath at Lahaina
Shutterstock Photo |
RadioSTAT
Antenna in Evidence
atop the Lahainaluna High School Gym
Photo Courtesy of
Harmer Communications |
| Radio Aids Maui Recovery |
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| Hawaii’s Emergency
Management Agency Deploys Temporary Radio Stations to
Advise Returning Residents |
LAHAINA, HI,
October 2023:
What took an instant to incinerate will require
lifetimes to rebuild. As Maui residents return to
reclaim what remains, their Emergency Management Agency
is keeping them updated by radio. Not surprisingly,
their first radio antenna location is in the Town of
Lahaina on the high school gym, which thankfully was
spared. Broadcasts may include a wide array of details
critical for re-entering residents: locating shelter and
food assistance, air quality updates and the status of
service restorations such as water and electricity.
Then there are the
residents of communities such as Lahaina and Kula who
can no longer gain access to their homes. “Displaced
people have moved out to areas like Kihei and Kahului
and are living with relatives, or some are in hotels,”
Walt Pacheco, Communications Coordinator with the Maui
Police Department, told The Source. The second
radio station is being set up now in the island’s major
city, Kahului – one of four
RadioSTAT systems currently at the Agency’s
disposal.
See
RadioWorld's story "Hawaii Puts AM Radio to Work
on Maui -- The state has acquired four portable emergency
advisory radio systems." Aug 22, 2023. |
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| Going Bigger |
October 2023 |
| FCC Approving Larger,
Higher Antennas for More Signal Coverage |
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Left to Right: Volunteer Randy Damsen (NB6X) and
Peninsula Fire Protection District’s Board Member Mark
Burham (K6FEJ) assemble the RadioSAFE (HPR.0990) Antenna
near Lake Almanor.
Photo Courtesy of
Peninsula Fire Protection District |
Tuning
Morgan County's RadioSAFE Antenna
Photo Courtesy of
Electronic Communication Systems, Inc. |
| LAKE ALMANOR CA,
October 2023:
A new, expanded-coverage
RadioSAFE system at Lake Almanor, California, will
provide a signal intended to envelop the region in
northern California with
information that could be critical in the next
emergency.
In May an earthquake near the Lake rattled plenty of
nerves. In recent years wildfires have approached the
area and just missed, sparking the need for the service.
Cellular coverage in the area is spotty; and if power is
severed or turned off, residents may suddenly find
themselves in an information desert. |
|
Martinsville, IN,
October 2023:
Morgan County, Indiana, is one of many communities seeking
to cover the most real estate possible by requesting
that FCC approve signal coverage and antenna height
waivers for their
RadioSAFE service.
Previously the County operated a portable radio system that
provided conventional coverage. Now, County safety
officials are watching the April date rapidly approach
when they expect throngs of eclipse tourists to descend
on Southern Indiana to see the moon’s shadow go by.
Radio will be an efficient way to reach out with safety
information during the event. |
ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SC,
October 2023: Orangeburg County in South
Carolina has announced it will be installing 12
RadioSAFE systems intended to blanket the region, which is
prone to flooding. The recent passing of Hurricane
Idalia in August pointed to the need for an emergency
information system resilient enough to provide updates
when grid power and conventional communications are
lost.
FCC allows safety agencies to seek waivers of antenna
height, signal coverage and other parameters for both
new and existing Information Radio Stations. At present,
more than two dozen such waivers have been granted,
permitting licensees to cover more ground cost
effectively. |
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Communities Aim to Be "Radio Ready" before
the
Next Round |
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| Preparing
for New, Vexing Variants amid "Regular" Emergencies,
Agencies Leverage Grants to Add Radio to Communication
Arsenals |
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CoordinatorStephen Shipman, Washoe County, Nevada
Photo Courtesy of Washoe County Department of Public
Health |
Santa Barbara County’s Roof-Mounted AM
Broadcast Antenna
Photo by
Tom Coviak |
AUGUST 2021:
Cities and counties make ready for the next round of
communication challenges that involve getting critical
safety information to locals in their vehicles. Some are
inbound to COVID facilities. Some are outbound due to
evacuations. Others lack a better means of receiving
critical information. But COVID grants, available to
local governments to help better communicate with
citizenry, are being utilized to fund localized AM radio
systems intended to bolster public health and safety –
perhaps more so now because no one knows what’s next.
Edgar Ruiz, Emergency Manager with the Park and
Recreation in Broward County, Florida, recently brought
onboard five portable
RadioSTAT Systems to get information to locals
lining up in cars for COVID shots at five county parks.
At the Upper Missouri District Health Unit in North
Dakota, Executive Director Javayne Oyloe is distributing
four RadioSTAT systems to her constituent counties in
preparation for future situations.
In July, the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency
Management (OEM) installed three
RadioSAFE Broadcast Systems in the County’s
challenging north county area, which includes
communities such as Santa Maria, Solvang and Lompoc.
Three more are planned for 2022. A spokesperson for the
Agency tells The Source that the signals will be used
for emergency preparation and for the ever-possible
wildfire and earthquake evacuations. “And, of course, if
we have future mass testing and vaccination operations,”
they add. "The broadcasts are controlled via network
(IP) from the County offices in Santa Barbara."
Communities in the County’s more populated “Front
Country” area have operated similar systems for 20
years. The OEM intends to integrate these radio stations
in Montecito, University of California Santa Barbara and
San Marcos Pass into the new emergency radio network.
“We have very limited egress from many of our
communities,” an agency spokesman points out. "And
especially when US-101 gets blocked by heavy traffic,
there are very few ways to get into and out of places
like Santa Barbara.” The 100,000 acre Thomas Fire in
2018, required the evacuation of the cities of Montecito
and Carpentaria and the complete closure US Highway 101
for an extended period.
Just to the Southeast, the City of Malibu has also
secured an AM frequency in the anticipation that it may
be needed for evacuation information. US-101 is the only
means of egress from Malibu, and based on the situation,
drivers need minute-to-minute intel on the direction to
drive that will yield the best result. If implemented,
the City will employ a High Efficiency HPR.0990 Radio
Antenna to effect wide-area signal coverage.
Washoe County, Nevada, which includes the City of Reno,
had the foresight to obtain four
portable Emergency Radio Systems on trailers a
decade ago and has utilized them heavily of late during
mass testing and vaccination efforts. Public Health
Coordinator Stephen Shipman works beside his Amateur
Radio Emergency Services (ARES) Organization to deploy
the units when and where needed.
The Bay Area Community of Fairfield, CA, has just been
granted the emergency temporary authority to operate
their city’s Information Station at a higher signal
level than would normally be allowed. This special FCC
license permits Communications Manager Bill Way to speak
to motorists more effectively on Interstate 80, which
bisects his community, when the presence of wildfires
bring traffic to a crawl . Says Way, “After last years’
LNU Lightning Complex Fire, we determined an emergency
radio broadcast would’ve increased our reach to all
audiences, especially during an evacuation."
Not far from Fairfield, Placer County Radio Services
Division rented an
EventCAST Radio System for three months to inform
citizens arriving at their vaccination site near
Roseville. The County has submitted for funding to
purchase a
RadioSTAT Portable System that can roam their
expansive county to assist with communications in future
emergencies of all kinds. The Governor’s Office of
Emergency Services in California took the same approach
at vaccine distribution sites in Los Angeles and
Oakland. Rental radio systems typically include a
temporary FCC license that is specific to the
application, and assistance with broadcast message
production. |
|
| CA Emergency
Managers Use Satellite Links for Evacuation
Instructions to Car Radios and Outdoor Warning
Speakers |
JUNE 2022: When the order comes to
evacuate, what information source does the public trust?
How can evacuees be certain they are not turning into an
oncoming disaster instead of escaping it? Increasingly,
emergency managers are looking to radio instead of
relying solely on social media, which, history shows,
has the potential to become a wildfire of its own.
In the February 2022 edition of Communication Review,
a published study finds that the logistics of various
social media platforms have a decidedly negative effect
on the work of emergency managers and responders. The
author details how in a crisis, social media information
can become tangled with subjective accounts, outdated
facts and heresay, inadvertently enhancing ambiguity
instead of clarity. The result can be to increase public
uncertainty at precisely the time that public resolve is
required.
Some communities are embracing a novel form of radio
technology to counter this effect so they can minimize
“social media wildfires” and maintain control of
communication channels: |
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“River Fire” near Salinas, CA, 2020 |
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Shutterstock Photo |
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Riverside County, California, was
procuring more than 30 Genasys satellite-linked
outdoor audio warning systems in the San Jacinto
Mountains to direct evacuations during crises such as
wildfires and earthquakes. The unique design would allow
emergency managers to direct evacuees by radio
(see
more about RadioSAFE Systems), so
when they enter their cars to escape, updated radio
messages will direct their routes. The emergency radio,
speaker sound and mass notification (email/text/phone)
systems will be managed from a single control platform. |
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Information Stations Prove Invaluable in California
Wildfire Evacuations |
SANTA
BARBARA, CA, June 2022: Two significant wildfires in three weeks
near Santa Barbara, California, tested the area’s
Emergency Advisory Radio Stations’ ability to direct
the public quickly out of harm’s way.
On October 17, a vegetation fire caused by downed power
lines required the evacuation of Painted Cave, CA – a
community that lost more than 400 homes and public
buildings in a devastating fire in 1990. The nearby San
Marcos Pass Information Station on AM 1040, operated by
Mike Williams, broadcast critical fire and evacuation
information continuously for residents as they lined up
on Highway 154 to exit. In the end, all lives and
structures were saved and the fire was contained to 44
acres.
Three weeks later, a similar fire in Montecito,
California's, backcountry triggered emergency evacuation
information to be broadcast on Montecito Fire Protection
District’s Information Station on AM 1610. The San
Marcos Pass station carried the evacuation information,
as well. Fortunately, this fire was contained by late
afternoon and residents returned to intact homes.
Stated Williams, “The use of low power radio in
emergency situations proved invaluable. The ability to
provide quick information to the public is essential
during fast moving events such as wildfires.” |
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Wildfires, Hurricanes and More |
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