ARES/SKYWARN Activation Ice Storm of 2008

1. ARES/SKYWARN Activation Ice Storm of 2008

2. Rob Macedo – KD1CY: Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator and ARES SKYWARN Coordinator from NWS Taunton Jim Palmer – KB1KQW: North Shore ARES Emergency Coordinator / Asst. SKYWARN Coordinator With additional support provided by: Eric Horwitz – KA1NCF: North Shore ARES District Emergency Coordinator Mike Griffin – KB1OHZ: North Shore ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator (Administration) Gordon Gravelese – KX1KTY: North Shore ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator (Operations) PowerPoint By: Eric Horwitz - KA1NCF, Jim Palmer - KB1KQW and Rob Macedo, KD1CY Presentation Adapted from North Shore ARES Presentation and After Action Report

3. Overview • A significant winter storm impacted the region from Thursday evening, December 11th lasting through Friday morning, December 12th bringing primarily a hazard of significant freezing rain accretion. • SKYWARN was activated mid-afternoon Thursday to support the threat of this significant winter storm with Ops at NWS Taunton at that time. • North Shore ARES was activated and deployed numerous ham radio operators into an ARES - MAT (Mutual Assistance Team) in order to provide relief communications to the city of Gardner, MA which is located 50 miles Northwest of Boston. • Communications were provided between the EOC at Gardner Police Station, two shelters, the hospital, and a National Grid mobile command vehicle.

4. Before it Began – Storm Preparations • Storm Coordination Message #1 issued Tuesday Evening when Winter Storm Watch for Icing was issued. • Storm Coordination Message #2 issued with “strong wording” on storm threat: • ..An Ice Storm Warning remains in effect for all of Western and Central Massachusetts through 7 AM Friday. This includes the Northern Panhandle section of Middlesex County Massachusetts. The potential exists for a significant damaging ice storm in this area.. • ..A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for Southern New Hampshire through 7 AM Friday.. • ..A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Northern Connecticut, Central and Southeast Middlesex and Western Essex Counties of Massachusetts through 5 PM ET Thursday.. • ..A Flood Watch is in effect from Thursday Evening through Friday Morning for Northern Connecticut, Essex, Central and Southeast Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth Counties of Massachusetts and All of Rhode Island except for Bristol County RI..

5. Before it Began – Storm Preparations • ..A Wind Advisory is now in effect for Cape Cod and the Islands from 2 AM-3 PM Friday. Other parts of Southeast New England could see strong winds overnight into Friday.. • ..SKYWARN Activation with Ops at NWS Taunton will occur beginning between 230 and 3 PM Today.. • ..ARES/RACES Groups in the Ice Storm and Winter Storm Warning areas should closely monitor the progress of the situation and seek advice from their local/regional leadership.. • In text of coordination message on the storm threat concerning SKYWARN Activation, it stated: SKYWARN Activation with Ops at NWS Taunton will occur starting at 230-300 PM Thursday with the potential for Ops active overnight.

6. It All Began…Thursday, December 11th • Like any other winter storm. • Rain gradually transitioned to heavy freezing rain across the region North and West of I-495. • SKYWARN activated in the mid afternoon as Net Control stations received a few reports of icing. • As the night progressed conditions deteriorated as Massachusetts and NH stations reported 1/4-1/2 inch ice accretion with freezing rain with no end in sight. • Numerous power outages were reported. SKYWARN Amateur Radio Operators were woken up to the sound of fallen trees and exploding transformers that ‘sounded like gun shots’. • Conditions continued to worsen significantly as night progressed with multiple damage reports. • SKYWARN Amateur Radio Operators provided the first situational awareness/disaster intelligence of the rapidly deteriorating situation.

7. Web EOC Posting at 931 PM 12/12/08 from Amateur Radio SKYWARN Desk • Increased number of power outage, cable-TV outages coming in from Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters in the towns of Auburn and Hubbardston, Mass. • Increase in number of tree and power line damage reports noted across Worcester County including the towns of Auburn, Holden, Templeton, Fitchburg, Leominster, East Brookfield. • Have also noted tree and power line damage reports in Dracut, Haverhill, Groton and Littleton, Mass. 1/2" icing reports have been received in Goshen, Northfield, Shelburne Falls on the west side of Bald Mountain and Colrain Massachusetts. • 3/8" ice reported in Holden, Mass 1 hour ago. Reports have increased significantly in the past hour. 

8. Web EOC Posting at 130 AM 12/13/08 from Amateur Radio SKYWARN Desk • Widespread power outages with trees and wires down reported affecting most if not all of the following communities by Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters: • Shrewsbury, Hubbardston, Rutland, Holden, Leominster, Sterling, and Cummington, all the Brookfields, New Braintree among other locations. • Icing of 3/4" reported in Holden, Cummington, Chesterfield and Goshen. 1/2" icing reported in Leominster and Haverhill. • This is a sitrep. A Local Storm Report with detailed info will follow by 3-330 AM and will be available on the NWS web site at weather.gov/boston

9. Web EOC Postings at 356 AM 12/13/08 from Amateur Radio SKYWARN Desk • Status Update: • Detailed Local Storm Report being updated and will be out by 4-415 AM. • Have had Amateur Radio Operators woken up in the town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts from fallen trees and wires. Widespread power outages reported in Chelmsford. • The two main Amateur Radio Repeaters in Worcester County are out of service. Have communications with Worcester EOC on Amateur Radio simplex. • Additional reports of trees and wires down have been received across Shrewsbury, Worcester, Lowell, Marlborough, Pepperell, and Andover. • 3/4" icing reported in Montgomery, Mass. • Starting to get reports of significant street flooding in the Methuen, Mass area. • Will advise when detailed Local Storm Report is available on weather.gov/boston

10. Web EOC Postings at 410 AM 12/13/08 from Amateur Radio SKYWARN Desk • The detailed Local Storm Report has reports through 305 AM posted at weather.gov/boston under the latest news section on the top screen. • Have received reports relayed by the Worcester EOC via Amateur Radio of 1 shelter open in Holden and Sterling. Have received a report of 1" icing in Leicester, Mass with 3 trees down blocking right hand portion of Route 56. • .60" icing reported at the Worcester EOC.

11. Situation Worsens • A State of Emergency is declared in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. • Reports of flooding, icing, and significant infrastructure damage continued to come in. • Countless shelters open across the state to accommodate displaced residents.

12. North Shore/Eastern Mass. ARES enters Stand-by Mode • Based on SKYWARN spotter reports and scope of the devastation, North Shore ARES DEC, KA1NCF and EC, KB1KQW in discussion with the ARES SEC, KD1CY decided it was time to prepare for potential support requests. • NS ARES Stand-by Mode activated at 12:30 pm after additional local leadership consultation • Eastern Massachusetts ARES in Stand-By Mode at 500 PM. • SKYWARN Net Control assumes ARES duties and requests availability for deployment in the event requests are received for ARES support.

13. Saturday, December 13th • Jim-KB1KQW deployed to State EOC for RACES Support. • A request for ARES support was received through the state RACES desk for an immediate need to handle health and welfare traffic in the city of Gardner, MA. • Request placed by Paul Topolski – W1SEX, Emergency Management Director • North Shore ARES to serve as the focal point for activation and deployment in order to minimize confusion • Jim-KB1KQW assumes additional role of ARES-MAT Coordinator.

14. What came NextNS ARES Activated • ARES Conference calls initiated and scheduled twice daily to coordinate efforts across the region • Included members of North Shore ARES, Eastern and Western MA ARES leadership, State EOC RACES Desk, and the ARRL Manager of Preparedness and Response at – Dennis Dura-K2DCD. • Operators deployed through the cooperation of North Shore ARES and Franklin County ARES beginning at 18:30. • Operators scheduled in standard 12-hour shifts. • Hourly ARES Resource call-ups began under control of Gordon-KX1KTY • A list of volunteers ready for deployment was compiled.

15. Deployments:Saturday, December 13th • 1 North Shore ARES to SEOC • 2 North Shore ARES to GARDNER • 2 Franklin County ARES to GARDNER • Objective: Support the EOC and two Shelters to offload health and welfare traffic from public safety radio systems.

16. Deployments:Sunday, December 14th • 1 North Shore ARES to SEOC • Eastern Massachusetts ARES SEC to SEOC • 2 Cape Cod ARES to SEOC • 6 North Shore ARES to GARDNER • 3 South Shore ARES to GARDNER • Two shifts were deployed for 12 hours • Volunteers extended deployment in order to handle shift change overlap

17. Deployments:Monday, December 15th • 5 Franklin County ARES to GARDNER • 2 North Shore ARES to GARDNER • 1 Rhode Island ARES to GARDNER • 1 Middlesex County to GARDNER • 1 South Shore ARES to WORCESTER • South Shore ARES DEC to SEOC • Middlesex County ARES DEC to SEOC • Note: Incoming phone service disrupted to local hospital and amateur radio provided the only means of communication between EOC and the Hospital

18. Tuesday, December 16th • 1 Ham deployed to the State Emergency Operations Center from North Shore / Norfolk County ARES (Lou-N1UEC) • Operations in Gardner secured as shelters began to close down in the area. • Operations secured in conjunction with local emergency management meeting

19. Gardner SecuredTuesday, December 16th • Operation secured at 12:32 bringing the total deployment time to approximately 66 continuous hours of support. • Total Deployed: 32 Total Operators (25 from Eastern Mass and does not include dozens of Ham Radio SKYWARN Spotters who were active during this event.) • 13 North Shore ARES • 7 Franklin County ARES • 4 South Shore ARES (1 to Worcester) • 3 Eastern Mass. ARES Staff to SEOC • 3 NWS Taunton Ham Operators (2 Hams were the same ones that deployed to SEOC later in the event) • 2 Cape Cod ARES to State EOC (SEOC) • 1 Rhode Island ARES • 1 Middlesex County Amateur Operator • Total Hours: 368.25 (+/-)

20. Gardner • Both new and experienced ham radio operators join the operation. • Amateurs with minimal or no net control experience find themselves leading the operation at the police station. • Members reassigned based on career skills • Member of the North Shore ARES team who is a nurse found herself relocated to one of the shelters to provide medical assistance in the event medical care was needed. • Tensions running high with local CERT volunteers due to high volume of hours worked. • Gardner repeater off-air due to power outage and replacement generator requested through State EOC and routed to proper support desk.

21. Gardner • Amateur Radio communications established in several points in town, with the Gardner Police station acting as Net Control. • Net control located in police conference room. • Tactical call signs were: • Shelter #1 - Gardner Middle School • Shelter #2 - National Guard Armory • Hospital - Heywood Hospital during the telephone outage • National Grid -Mobile operations center that coordinated return of electricity on Monday.

23. Pictures are worth a thousand words…

26. Statistics and Facts • Total Hours North Shore ARES was activated: 250.5 Hours (10 Days, 10.5 Hours) • Total Hours North Shore ARES was FORMALLY Activated: 78 Hours (3 Days, 6 Hours) • Total Hours North Shore ARES was INFORMALLY Activated: 172.5 Hours (7 Days, 4.5 Hours) • Approximate # of Administration Hours: 6 hours per day when activated, 3 when in stand-by • Total Approximate # of Administration Hours: 30 • 8 Conference Calls were conducted amounting to approximately 218 minutes. • An average of 27.25 minutes was spent on each conference call.

27. Statistics and Facts Continued • Total # of people deployed to Gardner: 22 • Total Ground-Hours in Gardner: 253.25 • Number of Gardner ARES-MAT Shifts: 5 • Average Operators per Shift: 4.4 • Average Ground-Hours in Gardner Per Person: 11.51 • Total # of people deployed to SEOC: 3 • Total Ground-Hours in SEOC: 35 • Average Ground Hours in SEOC Per Person: 11.67 • Average deployment hours per person for (all operations): 11.53 • Total Ground Hours at NWS Taunton: 56 Hours (3 Hams)

28. Resource Net • Purpose of the resource net was to compile a list of operators, equipment resources and hourly availability for potential deployment. • Volunteers requested with ability to deploy and operate from shelters, command posts, etc, as well as operators who could assume Net Control duties to relay reports into and out of the affected area. • The resource net was conducted on the 145.47 Danvers repeater beginning at 1200 on Saturday 12/13, and continued through Thursday 12/18. Hourly callups conducted from 0800 thru 2300 each day.  • Transitioned to every 4 hours for Wednesday the 17th, and Thursday the 18th. As the activation progressed, resources from the Danvers 145.47 repeater grew slim.  • Jim-KB1KQW and Eric-KA1NCF request additional resources through the conference call ARES teams from Rhode Island, and northern parts of Connecticut respond to the request for support. • As the lead ARES Group coordinating the activation, callups may have been considered on other repeaters (Boston 23, for example) to gather additional resources.

29. Challenges Faced/Lessons Learned • Adverse weather conditions • Numerous hams tied up with their own response to the ice storm. • Availability of resources • Resources in Middlesex, Worcester, and Northern Essex Counties were rapidly depleted • Resources for the State EOC ran out much more quickly than past events (ie: May Floods of 2006) – Need to develop a stronger local pool of operators for the State EOC to allow resources for closer to 72 Hours. • Coordination between several sections • Numerous resources expressing availability on the last day of the operation • Keeping local DEC/SEC’s updated as to the progress of the operation and if their additional resources would become necessary. • New Hams • Training and providing enough knowledge to perform the required duties, while keeping jobs within skill level. • Distance from incident. • North Shore members travel 60 minutes • Rhode Island / Southeast travel approx. 90 minutes.

30. Lessons Learned / Improvements • Public Service Lists • Suggested contacting Marathon list however several out-of-section amateurs receive request. This is not within ARES-MAT Protocol. • Notification of ARES Members of Activation • Three ways to contact volunteers. Successfully utilized e-mail and radio resource nets. • Telephone notification network should be instituted and practiced. • Recruitment of volunteers to aid in this process should be considered. • Review of HHAN System for RACES Activation/Response • Many did not respond to the HHAN alert on RACES activation. • Are minor weather alerts deemphasizing the HHAN alerts for larger incidents? • Recruitment of More Hams – Education to Emergency Management on the Role of Amateur Radio Operators • Many areas have not seen a disaster as large in magnitude as this ice storm in many years. • Comment made by North Attleborough Fire Chief, Peter Lamb-N1NVE when bringing the Ambulance Task force to Leominster that “the need for Amateurs is great” but very few Emergency Management requests for assistance. • Regions and State EOC need to provide guidelines on what RACES is and how to use it. How ARES supports non-profit organizations like Red Cross and how it can backup RACES. • RACES and ARES folks need to push recruitment NOW while the ice storm is fresh in everyone’s minds. This is an opportunity to gain momentum!

31. Lessons Learned / Improvements • Length of the Coordination messages • Shorter “facts only” brief coordination message and substituting with the situation reports (Sit-Reps) for more detailed information. Situation reports and coordination messages should contain separate information while working in concert with each other. • Method of Selecting Deployment Teams • Deploy ARES members with similar availability, location, operating practices, and equipment so each team has common familiarity with each other. • Deployment Memos • Key information such as frequencies and active duties were omitted. • Driving Directions and an address should also be included. • Template to be compiled to ensure key details are covered. • Shift Duration • Shift change extended shifts (significantly) • Have new arrivals scheduled 60 minutes earlier to accommodate this issue. • NSARES/Eastern Mass. ARES Rapid Response Team • To support immediate requests for assistance • Allows more time to coordinate the second team • Track ARES/RACES Administration hours

32. Lessons Learned / Improvements • Central location of paperwork • Compile all used forms and e-mail templates and issue USB Flash Drives to North Shore ARES leadership with a common database of files • Flash drives preferred as they can reside off our personal computers and accessible in the event of a power outage. • Eastern MA ARES Database • Useful to identify resources • Identified non-functional NSARES Email Addresses. • Integrated email client to simplify notification of districts? • Site Visitations • DEC/EC to make every attempt visit site of operation • Difficult in the event of high-volume coordination • Standardized Deployment Equipment List (Consider Cape Cod ARES Go Kit lists that already exist)

33. Conclusion • North Shore and Eastern Massachusetts ARES once again proved to the Amateur Radio community at large that our ARES team is ready for deployment to assist with any communications emergency. • Through our frequent drills and training sessions, we have proven ourselves as a valuable asset when all else fails. This ice storm and subsequent ARES-MAT was a tremendous success despite the rough conditions and challenges faced, and once again we can all take away valuable lessons learned as a result of this activation. • The North Shore and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Teams thank each and every Amateur Radio operator for their support throughout this long duration activation of ARES/SKYWARN and looks forward to working again with everyone in the future.