BEECN Program Organization

This section outlines the structure, management, and responsibilities of the BEECN (Basic Earthquake Emergency Communication Node) program.

BEECN and PBEM

1. The BEECN program is sited in, supervised and managed by the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) with participation from Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R).
2. PBEM has sole authority to determine BEECN volunteer membership and who is responsible for maintaining and deploying a BEECN.
3. When activated, BEECN volunteers defer to the authority of any present emergency response personnel (such as police, fire, or EMS personnel), members of the military, emergency managers associated with a City of Portland bureau (e.g. the Portland Water Bureau), or staff from PBEM.
4. The PBEM Bureau Director may delegate responsibilities for the BEECN program to a designee.
5. All routine communications regarding BEECN program business between volunteers, city employees, and PBEM will be directed to staff at PBEM assigned to manage BEECN.

City Employees and BEECNs

The City of Portland may assign a City of Portland employee to a BEECN for drills and/or deployment. A city employee is still considered a city employee while undertaking responsibilities to the BEECN program, and the city employee is at no time considered a “BEECN volunteer”.

Elements of a BEECN

A BEECN consists of three essential elements: the site, the equipment cache, and the assigned volunteers.

1. The BEECN site is the geographical location where Portlanders are encouraged to go 24 to 48 hours following an earthquake. For example: school grounds, a park, or a parking lot. These are the sites that appear on published BEECN maps.
2. The BEECN equipment cache associated with the site is located within a five block radius of the BEECN site. It contains all the equipment that volunteers need to deploy the BEECN.
3. BEECN volunteers are the personnel associated either with a BEECN or a fire station, and are trained to deploy the BEECN program 24 to 48 hours following an earthquake. It takes a minimum of two volunteers to operate a BEECN, and at least two volunteers to carry out BEECN responsibilities at a fire station.

In addition to these three essential elements, the BEECN system relies on Orange "Go-Kits" located at every Portland Fire & Rescue fire station.

Responsibilities of PBEM to the BEECN Program

PBEM has many responsibilities to the BEECN program and they are woven throughout these BEECN Guidelines. The following subsection does not include all of PBEM’s responsibilities to the BEECN program, but indicates those most salient. PBEM will:

1. Provide training to designated BEECN volunteers that will instruct them on safe and effective practices and procedures to deploy the BEECN following an earthquake.
2. Provide BEECN exercise and drill opportunities to keep volunteers confident and competent in the skills needed to deploy in the event of a disaster.
3. Provide a point of contact at PBEM who responds to the needs and inquiries of BEECN volunteers in a reasonably timely, professional, and relevant manner.
4. Ensure that volunteers are appropriately indemnified for their service to the community.
5. Ensure that caches and cache supplies and equipment are replenished and replaced as needed and as resources permit; and, ensure that caches receive maintenance as required.
6. Be responsible for and maintain Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with property owners who host BEECN caches.

This BEECN is deployed in an ideal site: not a lot of trees, flat, broad uh...tract of land. Yes very nice.

Location of BEECN Sites

1. At minimum, there will be a total of 48 BEECN sites located throughout the City of Portland.
2. BEECNs will be evenly distributed throughout the city and are generally sited with the goal of placing approximately two BEECNs within each of the Portland Plan’s neighborhood hub boundaries (see Appendix B).
3. PBEM has complete discretion over the location of each BEECN site. However, PBEM will consider the input of property owners, community partners, city employees, and volunteers when deciding BEECN site locations.
4. Though moving a BEECN site should be avoided, PBEM will consider moving a site if a more appropriate one is found in the immediate neighborhood of the BEECN.
5. The ideal BEECN site is:
   • An open area large enough to hold a crowd of at least 100 people;
   • A safe distance from unreinforced masonry structures (such as older brick structures);
   • Is not on a steep gradient or near landslide hazards, and not easily subject to flooding;
   • Is not in the vicinity of tall trees, overhead power lines, or other utility hazards;
   • Is familiar to the community and following a disaster might be intuited by neighbors as a community gathering point, and is geographically central to the immediate community.