Operations at Fire Stations: Difference between revisions

This section steps volunteers through what to do when deployed to a fire station to support BEECNs in an emergency or during an exercise. Operations for volunteers who deploy to BEECN sites are covered in [[Operations: BEECN Sites]].

In the event of a deployment, Fire Station cohorts:

d. Pass radio traffic between nearby BEECNs and net control at the city’s ECC.

Have a plan. Cohorts must consider that an earthquake knocking out communications systems means volunteers will be unable to check in with each other. Therefore, cohorts must plan ahead on who deploys for the first 8-hour shift, and who for the second.  Furthermore, all four volunteers (Primary and Backup) assigned to a shift should deploy for that shift if they can. If one or both Primary volunteers cannot deploy, the Backup volunteers are still present to carry out fire station responsibilities and/or assist the Primary Volunteers if needed. Backup volunteers can also rotate Primary Volunteers out of their shift for breaks to eat, use the bathroom, etc.

PBEM recommends that the Cohort Coordinator inform local NETs of the cohort’s deployment plan. The Team ARO for a local NET may need to access the orange Go-Kit in the event of a disaster.

Immediately following an earthquake, FS volunteers:

c. Deploy to fire station if it is safe to do so and commence operations.

BEECNs are deployed 24 to 48 hours following a catastrophic earthquake that has shut down communications systems such as cell phones and land lines. Therefore, FS volunteers must expect to self deploy without a direct request from PBEM or other government authority. FS volunteers deploy to their assigned fire station and set up the Go-Kit if, and only if, the following conditions are met:

d. Volunteers have received no direct instructions from PBEM or other government authority.

Individual volunteers maintain personal discretion to deploy when the self- deployment protocols are met as described in 400.20. The decision to deploy following a disaster is a volunteer’s own, and a volunteer may never be coerced into deploying. A volunteer who chooses not to deploy will not be subject to any consequences related to his or her standing in the BEECN program.

During the course of any deployment or exercise, FS volunteers must ensure that all chosen actions conform to the following guiding principles:

[[File:BEECN Radio Communications From Fire Stations.png|400px]]

a. When arriving at the fire station, volunteers should act as guests on the property. Please be respectful and avoid damaging equipment or property at the station.

c. Except in highly unusual circumstances (i.e. potential life safety situation at the fire station), the Go-Kit should never leave the premises of the fire station.

a. Community residents go to their nearest BEECN to send information to the Portland ECC. To accomplish this, BEECN operators send messages via a UHF handheld radio to the volunteer team at the nearest fire station, and the fire station re-broadcasts BEECN messages via amateur radio to the Portland ECC. There are at least two team members at the fire station:

Once the transceiver is in VFO mode, rotate the tuning knob on the right to select 144.410. If the initial frequency is a long way from 144.410, you can save time by briefly telling the transceiver to change frequency 1 MHz at a time by tapping the [V/MHz] key. The display should change to show fewer digits. After the first three digits show “144”, tap the [V/MHz] again to return to the normal VFO tuning mode.  

Members of the public will have many different purposes for relaying messages through the BEECN network. If messages compete for priority, volunteers should use this guide to decide which messages get relayed soonest:

5. Other: Any traffic that does not fall into the above categories (e.g. media requests).

The following table indicates which BEECNs each fire station will communicate with and the UHF channel to use:

[[File:Fire Stations Part 3.png]]

See [[BEECN Scripts]].

a. Scripts appear as Appendix A of these Guidelines.