Community Corner

Play A Role In Disaster Communications For Madison And Surrounding Towns

Come to this informative one hour presentation and learn how you can be be of service to your community and enjoy a great life-long hobby. Everyone welcome.

7:00 pm

Guilford Fire Department

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


FREE

 

"When All Else Fails... Amateur Radio Works."

Amateur Radio ("Ham Radio") gets the message through for your family and community during times of emergency. Madison is part of a four-town zone that also includes Branford, North Branford, and Guilford. Together, the towns make up the CT Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Region 2.

When normal communication systems fail (or are overloaded) due to Hurricanes, Floods, Tornadoes, Snow/Ice storms, or Man-Made events (e.g. 9/11/01), trained, federally licensed Amateur Radio Operators are able to make a difference and quickly provide needed back-up communications.

Come to this informative 1 hour presentation and learn how you can be be of service to your community and enjoy a great life-long hobby.

Here is some additional information from the CT ARES website:

"ARES" is the Amateur Radio Emergency Service.

ARES (pronounced air'-ees) is a registered program of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).

WE ARE NOT A "CLUB"

We are a Public Service Organization with 1 Mission:
To Provide Emergency Communications in the event that regular communication systems either 
FAIL and/or become OVERLOADED.

The ARRL has 15 Divisions covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.  Each Division is further broken down into Sections.  Larger states may be divided into multiple Sections, but most states such as Connecticut are a Section unto itself.

ARES works with the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] and provides emergency communications services for agencies such as The American Red Cross, Salvation Army as well as the Connecticut Offices of Emergency Management/Homeland Security (CT DEMHS).  Many of our volunteers work in their local communities to help with emergency planning and communications assistance in time of need.

WE ARE NOT "FIRST RESPONDERS"

ARES PRIORITIES

In a crisis, our first priority is to provide needed communications for CT DEMHS.  This is usually done through their main HQ in Hartford and the 5 Regional Emergency Operations Centers [EOC].   We go where they need us.  

The next priority is providing communications for the Red Cross chapters within Connecticut.

5 REGIONS
Connecticut has been divided into 5 Regions by CT DEMHS, and CT ARES parallels the same divisions. Each of these 5 Regions has an ARES District Emergency Coordinator [DEC] appointed to oversee operations there.  Other Special DEC’s have been appointed for working specifically with the Red Cross, National Traffic System, Special Operations, and National Weather Service's SKYWARN program.

District Emergency Coordinators recommend individuals for appointment to the position of Emergency Coordinators to work in specific towns or localities.  All recommendations for EC are subject to the approval of the CT ARES Section Emergency Coordinator [SEC] and the CT ARES Section Manager [SM]. The Section Manager is the elected head of the Field Organization of the American Radio Relay League.


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