BEECN Program Organization: Difference between revisions

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== BEECN and PBEM ==
== BEECN and PBEM ==
Guidelines governing the relationship between PBEM and the BEECN program:
# The BEECN program is sited in and managed by the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) with participation from Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R).
# The BEECN program is sited in and managed by the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) with participation from Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R).
# PBEM has sole authority to determine BEECN volunteer membership and who is responsible for maintaining and deploying a BEECN.
# PBEM has sole authority to determine BEECN volunteer membership and who is responsible for maintaining and deploying a BEECN.
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# The '''[[BEECN Sites|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.
# The '''[[BEECN Sites|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.
# The '''[[BEECN Caches|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.
# The '''[[BEECN Caches|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.
# '''[[BEECN Volunteers|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.
# '''[[BEECN Volunteers|BEECN volunteers]]''' are the personnel associated with a BEECN 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.
In addition to these three essential elements, the BEECN system relies on [[Operations at Fire Stations#Orange Go-Kits|Orange "Go-Kits"]] located at every Portland Fire & Rescue fire station.
Similarly, fire station resources in the BEECN system are broken into three elements:
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# The '''fire station''', as the name implies, is the Portland Fire & Rescue facility where the [[Operations at Fire Stations#Orange Go-Kits|VHF Orange "Go-Kit"]] is stored. Every fire station also has an antenna on its roof that hooks up to the VHF kit.
# The '''Orange "Go-Kit"''' is the amateur radio set operators use to communicate with the radio room in the EOC. Each Orange Kit also includes a handheld UHF radio that can receive radio traffic from nearby BEECNs.
# There are two types of '''fire station volunteers'''. There are UHF handheld radio operators, who operate the same [[BEECN Caches#UHF Handheld BEECN Radio|push-to-talk radio]] that BEECN volunteers do. They pass BEECN messages to the HAM radio volunteers, who then relay those messages to the EOC.
 
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== Responsibilities of PBEM to the BEECN Program ==
== Responsibilities of PBEM to the BEECN Program ==