Amateur radio earns kudos for TOPOFF 3 performance

The role of Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers in Connecticut in last week's massive TOPOFF 3 exercise has drawn praise from the American Red Cross, for which ARES provided virtually all radio communication.

Sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security and intended as a realistic test of the nation's homeland security system, TOPOFF 3's goal was to push the system of first responders beyond its limits to find the weak spots. American Red Cross emergency services director Mario J. Bruno extolled ARES' performance.

"Operators were there when we needed them, and messages got to where they were needed," he said in a note to ARRL Connecticut Section leadership. "We have learned a lot about what ARES can really do when things get messy, and TOPOFF 3 has been a clear example of how complicated a disaster can get."

Bruno said the Red Cross doesn't have to worry if today's fancy telecommunications devices fail, because ARES will always be there to provide the needed support. "Thank you ARES for helping us respond to the largest disaster exercise in the history of the United States," Bruno concluded. "We will not forget."

Connecticut's phase of TOPOFF 3 began April 4 with a bang--an explosion in New London meant to simulate a terrorist attack. "Loud enough that the organizers passed out earplugs for the media gathered on the bluffs above,"
recounted ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP--a former Connecticut Section Emergency Coordinator and current ARES member.

Visual realism was very much a part of the $16 million exercise, and prospective ARES volunteers were cautioned in advance. "As the mushroom cloud of smoke drifted away," Pitts said, describing the explosion's immediate aftermath, "hundreds of gory victims processed into the site to assume positions of death and agony." Pitts says Amateur Radio's real work only began in earnest after the media also drifted away, once the smoke and simulated blood were gone.

After ARES stood down from the drill late on April 6, ARRL Connecticut Section Manager Betsey Doane, K1EIC, and SEC Chuck Rexroad, AB1CR, said they felt Amateur Radio acquitted itself very well during the drill.

"The energy, enthusiasm and absolute dedication of all the volunteers for this event are a testament to the real dedication and teamwork in the Connecticut Section," Doane said in a statement thanking all who took part.

Rexroad agreed. "It's just been amazing," he said. "People came into this drill prepared and ready to stay. It was a very positive experience."

Under the National Disaster Plan, the Red Cross has primary responsibility for mass care. ARES provided communication among all of the Red Cross emergency response vehicles (ERVs), mobile canteens, kitchen, headquarters and other sites the organization needed stay in touch with.

In all, as many as 40 of the 150 ARES volunteers from Connecticut and other states in the Northeast were deployed to the field at any given time, and everyone got to take part at some point. "Everybody had a job to do,"
Rexroad said. "Everyone had at least one shift when they were able to get on the radio and provide communications support."

Doane also credited the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications courses and other training with raising the overall level of operating skill--even among newer operators.

"There were a few new people that were assigned to be observers, and before the end of the drill ended up trained well enough to be an operator on an ERV," she said. "I have to tell you, I was impressed."

TOPOFF 3 required participants to be ready for unexpected events, and the ARES operation was no exception. "The only big curveball we got thrown was when one of the judges decided they were going to take one of our repeaters down," Rexroad explained. Connecticut ARES was able to promptly switch to a backup. Ironically, a genuine repeater breakdown occurred just before the exercise got under way.

Rexroad and Doane agreed that TOPOFF 3 not only was a success but a helpful learning experience for ARES. "We learned a fair number of lessons, and most of them were organizational, not technical, in nature," Rexroad remarked.

Rexroad says Connecticut ARES also prepared to assist the Connecticut Office of Emergency Management and actually activated several of its stations to show the state officials that it had the back-up coverage in case they needed it.

A bioterrorism incident was the scenario in New Jersey--the only other TOPOFF 3 site. Emergency officials there not only were key to the exercise, they had real problems owing to flooding in the northern part of the state. ARES teams in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania participated in the
flood emergency response and relief effort.

Brian Fernandez, K1BRF, a Connecticut Assistant SM and ARES liaison to the Red Cross said Amateur Radio's performance in TOPOFF 3 did not go unnoticed within the Department of Homeland Security. "Amateur Radio made a major contribution to the nation," he said, "and those who contribute to making it safer and stronger and folks in the right places know it."

Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The American Radio Relay League

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