Adventures of an Emergency Management Volunteer

2011 Tornados

2012-01-02T23:08:00.000-06:00

Caused the highest number of deaths (528) since 1925 despite all the progress that has been made in advanced warnings. Here's a one minute animation of the location of those tornadoes.

2011-12-23T13:55:00.001-06:00

* * * Merry Christmas * * *

To each and all who drop in now and then to see what's happening in my world, my family and I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, a wonderful holiday season and a safe and prosperous New Year.

CERT Pot Luck, AARC Christmas Party & Jingle Bell Run

2011-12-12T14:04:00.063-06:00

CERT Christmas Pot-Luck - December 21st: Held at the Fire Training Center. With Irish and Matt from the OEM, there were maybe 15 or 18 of us there. Nice camaraderie. Sincere thank yous and kudos from Irish Hancock, head of the OEM, who said it might not seem that important but CERT assistance with EOC activations, even if just to answer phones, set out food, was invaluable. A bit about the upcoming all day FEMA Damage Assessment course (once we're trained they are going to assign specific teams to specific areas of the city for immediate assessment for events such as flooding, weather, fires and others to report in to the OEM primarily via an IPad link to use to make more specific resource assignments, etc. Also in the works in POD training. Not sure how this is going to work with plans the Tarrant County Health Department already has in place. Pleasant if short gathering.

AACR party - December 8th: At the Black Eyed Pea in Lincoln Square in Arlington. About 25 attended. The person named Radio Operator of the Year wasn't present, so name wasn't announced. The ICOM raffle was won by one of the women in the club, and a few gifts were brought for an Exchange. Not far from the Ball Park and Cowboy Stadium.

Jingle Bell Run - December 3rd: After last year's disaster of slow runners/walkers having to finish the route in the dark (a handful made a wrong turn in the almost pitch black), this year's event started at 8:45 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. It would be so helpful if whoever organized these things actually walked the route in advance. Some of the radio guys had to move cones that misdirected walkers and then had to find a key to open a gate that allowed walkers on to a certain section of the path. Radio operators needed to be there by 6:30. It was dark, a bit foggy with light rain. By the time participants began to arrive the rain had stopped, at least for a while. I'd not previously met the man serving as Net Control. As I stepped in the van Gerry introduced me to him. When I saw a braille writer in front of him I made the wholly unnecessary observation "Ah, you're blind." DUH !!! At least I didn't ask the obvious. Really nice guy with an incredible memory and sense of humor. He was the only person in the van with a watch and had the time, which was rather funny actually. I served as back-up but did practically nothing but warm the chair. At the end, the operator in the golf cart circled the route looking for any possible stragglers, picking up extra supplies, retrieving and folding banners, all of which was delivered back to the organizers. Then 16 or 20 or us went out for Mexican Food at La Familia. It has a good reputation and atmosphere, but frankly I wasn't that impressed with the food. The soup was decidedly salty and the sour cream on enchiladas was decidedly sour. Rather than a scoop of beans, what I got was more like a smear. I'll eat pretty much whatever is put in front of me, but for the $$ I expected more. However, the freshly made salsa and tortilla chips were great.

Amateur Radio Operators Support Alzheimer's Walk, Fort Worth Trinity Park, Rangers Win ALCS

2011-10-16T06:53:00.019-05:00

IF the World Series goes to game 5, I'm scheduled to monitor the EOC radios on the 24th.

Alzeimer's Walk Route Map through Trinity Park.

I met Gerry, RACES liason for the Fort Worth Joint EOC, outside of it at 6 this morning. He'd had to first fetch the smaller of the 2 RACES vans (located far elsewhere), but we managed to arrive less than a minute apart. From there it's a short ride to Trinity Park. The weather was perfect with temps from 58 to 77 by the time we left apx 11:40. This year Registration and Start/Finish were set up inside the walk route on the drive that bisects the double loops. The RACES van parked off-street directly across the road - where that little notch appears ENE of where the red marker is. MedStar's ambulance was parked nearby, at least two paramedics riding bikes loaded with their equipment. Police officers were on location as well, friendly and unobtrusive. Participant parking was in the large lot east of Farrington Field. Volunteers were told to park at some lot the other side of the Lancaster Bridge - both a considerable hike to Registration - the reason I met Gerry at the EOC. However, it looked to me that many, if not most, parked along park roadways instead.

Fourteen radio operators assisted. 4 individually assigned to certain Walk officials; 1 at each of 5 water stations to relay requests for water or emergency aid; 2 operated golf carts to ferry extra supplies and pickup walkers who needed a ride back to Registration or to the Parking lot; Gerry and I were inside van where I served as primary Net Control. We used 146.76, one of the back-up repeaters. Gerry monitored the van's police/fire radios and jumped in when he (with his tens of years of considerable professional and volunteer experience doing this sort of thing rather than my 18 months of sporadic involvement) when he deemed it best that he quickly handled the matter. Not that I couldn't have if I'd had more experience and knew what I could tell the radio guys to do and/or given time enough to cogitate a moment. He reminded me I needed to keep the big picture in my head as Net Control and take control. I sat and learned. As participants finished, one of the assisted living center's resident buses was utilized as a Sag to transport those who weren't able to get back to the parking lot using a radio guy who'd completed his first assignment. At the end of the Walk the carts circled the route 2 or 3 times to make sure no one was left on the course and to retrieve left-over supplies, route signs and banners to assist the Alzheimer's organization clean up and clear out faster. Not in our job description, but ham radio operators are friendly, helpful folk and happy to assist. I took a few photos and IF I ever get those d/l to my computer, I'll post.

Texas Rangers & the ALCS Playoffs - OEM Gearing up for World Series

2011-10-12T07:35:00.003-05:00

I am at best a barely nominal baseball fan. I didn't even realize the Rangers were going to the playoffs until they were IN the playoffs. But who can ignore the local excitement when the Rangers go into the ALCS for the second year in a row at The Ballpark? [An abrupt aside: I don't know anyone around here, except those required to do so for political or commercial reasons, who calls it "Ameriquest Field." It was originally officially and shall always be known as "The Ballpark" regardless of who next purchases the naming rights. Just who or what is Ameriquest anyway? Don't these entities realize no one cares and other than a poor attempt to aggrandize some corporate whatever, what advertizing purpose does it actually serve? Who has ever gone out and purchased an item or a bit of stock just because some ballpark or arena was named for some corporate one thing or another? Since I was forced to help pay for both The Ballpark and Cowboy Stadium through a many multi-year increase in special local sales taxes, why don't *I* or the majority of citizens get to name them? I call it a fraud upon the stockholders and/or citizens .... never mind.]

ALCS Game #1. Despite a couple of short rain delays, and after the magnificent display of choreographed grounds keepers who emerged from nowhere and covered the infield with a protective tarp in 60 or less seconds (wish I had seen them remove it as well) the game was completed and the Rangers WON. The rain eventually started falling at my house about 4 miles from The Ballpark and overnight I received 2.35". My Dad, who lives between here and there, got a much needed and greatly appreciated 2.9". Officially, however, DFW Airport only got 1.37". Game #2 on Sunday - postponed. Yes, it was a cloudy, humid mid-morning but that was clearing out so when I heard the game had been postponed due to possible rain later in the day, I checked the current weather map and radar - the flume or plume of Gulf moisture that triggered the desperately needed heavy rains on Saturday night had already moved well east of the Metroplex. "Game postponed? HUH?" Yep. No rain. Game #2 on Monday. Beautiful day ending with a record setting GRAND SLAM walk off (I had to ask about that term). I managed to tune in just in the nick of time to see Cruz at bat in the bottom of the 11th, some 4+ hours into the game. Looking at his face and seeing that long barely foul ball he walloped into the stands in left field, no way was he NOT going to hit a home run! Then I heard he'd already hit a home run in an earlier inning. Good job, Nelly!! GO RANGERS! So far the OEM/EOC has managed to operate without volunteer assistance this year.

However, with all the hopes of every baseball fan (even the nonfans) in this part of Texas fully expecting the Rangers to win the ALCS (sorry Detroit fans), the OEM is gearing up in advance of a possible second World Series. CERT members received an email yesterday indicating OEM needs and available shifts should that come to pass. As of now they are only asking for 2 CERT volunteers plus one radio operator for each of two 4-hour-shifts for each of the 3 days the Series would be in Arlington: October 22, 23 and 24th. I responded with my availability. If, nay WHEN, the World Series comes back to the Ballpark we'll be notified of a specific date and shift. The Arlington EOC isn't the only one which will be open and operational during that time. Other radio groups will also be up and ready to respond, including the area-wide hospital net and as well as other Metroplex OEM's - should the need arise. After both the World Series and Super Bowl in the past year, we volunteers have the routine down pat: check credentials for admittance to the EOC, make coffee, set out any food, maybe answer phones. Are 2 volunteers really enough? The ham radio person on duty, located in the radio room adjacent to the EOC, sits and gets really bored doing pretty much nothing. Getting really bored is a good thing. Perhaps the Joint EOC will fully activate and I can volunteer over there as well and see that in operation, which would be a different thus interesting experience for me.

Another line of storms has moved through starting about 0425 with continuing periods of heavy rain. According to the online Personal Weather Station not far from my residence, we've already had another inch. GREAT! I'll check my own rain gauge later. Update: 1.2" of rain overnight.

Walk to End Alzheimers 2011 - Fort Worth

2011-10-01T18:35:00.001-05:00

Date: October 15, 2011 - 8:00 a.m.

Location: Trinity Park (a beautiful walk through the trees and along the Trinity River just west of downtown Fort Worth)

Parking: In the Farrington Field Parking Lot, a couple of blocks east of the University Drive / Lancaster intersection.

Length: apx. 2.5 miles

For additional information on the FW walk and others in the North Texas area click here. Trinity Park is a beautiful venue. The Walk is a great way to spend a fall Saturday morning with family and friends of all ages. Join the Walk!

I'll be acting as Net Control for this ARES public service event. Last year the RACES van was located in the Farrington Field parking lot. I think we'll be using the white box truck/van with "RACES" on the side - or look for the antennas. If you're around and spot us, walk by and wave or say hello! Since the map appears to show that the start finish is now in the MIDDLE of the course, we may park closer to that - don't know yet. The Walk to End Alzheimer's logo is a trademark of the Alzheimer's Association.
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The Rest of the Story: Joplin Tornado Survivors

2011-09-30T01:31:00.001-05:00

From Esquire magazine: the incredible and moving individual and combined stories of the persons who survived by seeking shelter at the Fasttrip and the amazing video from inside that was quickly aired by US news outlets and has been viewed on YouTube from around the world. Thanks to Meteorological Musings blog for posting this link.

>100 AGAIN / 2012 SKYWARN Training Schedule Posted

2011-09-29T17:07:00.007-05:00

DFW hit record high 101 this afternoon breaking old record of 99 in 1953, 16 degrees ABOVE average temps for this date. This makes Day 71 of 100+ so far this year. Waco @ 101.

Dates for 2012 SKYWARN training in North Central Texas was posted today. Most are 2-hour sessions held on weeknights or the occasional Saturday morning from January 9th through March 29th. All-day sessions, which include both beginner AND Advanced Spotter Training - necessary to maintain SKYWARN/RACES membership, are scheduled on Saturdays (except as noted):

January 21 - Collin County
January 28 - Tarrant County
February 4 - McLennan County
February 11 - Bell County
February 18 - Dallas County
February 21 - Denton County (Tuesday)
March 15 - Montague County (Thursday)
March 24 - Tarrant County (abbreviated 3-hour session including Advanced)

Check the NWS site for other training locations along with specific dates and times. SKYWARN sessions are free and open to the public at large, regardless of age, whoever has any interest in basic or severe weather information and/or spotter training.

At the request of Tarrant County RACES, the FWD NWS office is scheduling an onsite discussion and training exercise for Net Controllers in October. One of the purposes is for Net Controllers to get a look at and better understand what's going on at the NWS office during severe weather events and find out exactly what information they want and need at any given time. This information will be incorporated into the new RACES training classes as well. Should be really interesting and informative.

UPDATE: NWS issued a Severe Weather Warning for Denton Co at 2034, Tarrant County at 2052; then Dallas County at 2113, followed later by warnings for counties south of the Metroplex. A rapidly developing W to E line of storms formed along the cold front just north of Metroplex. Biggest threat was high winds, potential for microbursts with winds over 60 and up to 1" hail. Spotters were specifically asked to watch for signs of a rain or dust foot indicating a microburst. Very difficult to see in the dark. DFW Airport delayed landings and take-offs for about 45 minutes. Microburst in Irving just east of DFW, also possible microburst just east of Cockrell Hill, winds 60 to 70 in So Dallas County. Little rainfall and very limited pea-size hail. Email and phone notice to Tarrant County RACES members went out at 2059. Tarrant County RACES activated just after 2100 and closed as the cores of the high risk cells moved out of the County at 2213. This is TERRIFIC!! The cold front has moved through the night BEFORE the Rangers host the Rays at the Ball Park tomorrow afternoon!

Tutorial on Emergency Power

2011-09-23T19:19:00.002-05:00

Battery and other backup power for Ham radio equipment was discussed at the AARC meeting last Friday. Sunday night's very brief storm knocked out power to my neighborhood for almost 5 hours. It was flashlight, a candle and car battery charger for cell phone for the duration. Emergency power was also discussed Monday night at the RACES Leadership meeting. So it was fortuitous to run across Wednesday's article from Mike Smith's Meteorological Musings blog about back-up power: Tutorial on Emergency Power

Also check out the excerpt from a NYT's article, More on the Joplin Tornado, citing stats showing the unusually high number and percentage of casualties that occurred in business premises.

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Calm Chaos Following Air Show Crash

2011-09-20T15:26:00.008-05:00

Article from AP - Discusses the response from First Responders and civilians alike.

RACES Leadership last night to finalize content and program for newly required Tarrant County RACES training for new or renewed RACES membership. One more discussion then initial group of 20 starts in October. Keeping it small to see what needs tweaking before expanded to entire membership and new applicants. CERT tonight.

Quick pop-up & fast moving storm Sunday night. I'd been checking radar while on line. Nothing there then 10 minutes later a line of severe storms was moving in. I'd just checked in as a back-up Net Control for an ARES Weather Net when a very loud WHUAMP! Blackness! A nearby transformer (possibly the one in my back yard) had blown or more likely arched in the short burst of high winds. Two more WHUMPS as Oncor quickly tried to restore power over the next few minutes, after which it was almost 5 hours before electricity came back. Using just the mag mount, my HT wouldn't reach the repeater to transmit and in the dark with my small LED flashlight I couldn't locate the small box in which my BNC connecter resides so I couldn't connect it to my outdoor antennae. I ended up calling Radio Dave, who lives across town, to ask him to contact Net Control for me. He'd been standing in his front yard watching the storm come in and had seen the 3 power flashes. Thankfully, at the time it was momentarily pouring rain and sparking lines that run through our back yards didn't start a fire in this heavily wooded and VERY DRY neighborhood. I got .3 inches of rain in under 10 minutes. YEAH!!

I've edited and added some new links and updated upcoming Special Events.

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Official HOTTEST SUMMER - New SKYWARN Training Modules & Spotters Field Guide

2011-09-17T02:22:00.005-05:00

September 13th - Record High 107; Set new record for # of days 100 and above at 70. Officially Hottest Summer on Record taking over 1st spot from 1980. Hopefully the horrendously hot summer is OVER.
September 7th - Not as many outdoor siren test observers as in August when it was 20 degrees hotter.
September 16th - Radio Club meeting. Membership is GROWING!! Signed up another radio guy for the Siren Test. IT FINALLY RAINED. My gauge shows .90 but it was sitting a bit sideways so it actually was a bit more. MORE RAIN PLEASE!

Online SKYWARN Spotter Training Modules
This course covers the basics of being a SKYWARN Spotter. The goal of the course is to provide baseline training for all spotters through multiple modules covering the procedures for spotting (including communication and spotter report criteria) and safety considerations for all hazards. You can access the two modules here - https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_course.php?id=23

New! Weather Spotters Field Guide
http://www.weather.gov/os/brochures/SGJune6-11.pdf This is the brand new storm spotters guide that was recently released. This guide replaces the old basic and advanced printed guides. Feel free to share/print/copy the guide as you see fit. (72 pages)

At the break of dawn

2011-08-25T18:37:00.000-05:00

Taken from and by the NWS FWD staff.

I saw this at a distance. The NWS reported UFO's at their office. (Unidentified Falling Obejcts). I HEARD thunder, but no UFO's again at my house. After an unexpectedly cool morning around 80, it still got to 103 today and will continue at that pace for the next week or more. Looks like we ARE going to exceed the record number of days >100 of 69 set in 1980. Only 11 more days and we'll become officially the HOTTEST SUMMER ON RECORD. : ( I write that in the hopes that it will jinx the record and ...

Second Hottest Summer on Record : (

2011-08-22T20:05:00.002-05:00

As of tomorrow we will have had 57 days over 100 this year. 1980, the hottest summer, had 69. Someone, PLEASE ABSOLUTELY PROMISE ME we are NOT going to break that record in 2011. : ( Unless some popup storm skews DFW Aairport's official thermometer reading while most everyone else still roasts, and since it's supposed to continue over 100 for AT LEAST the next 7 days .... NOOOOOO!! I suffered A/C emergency #3 Friday evening, after another high of 107. The A/C company owner told me today they've replaced over 500 capacitors just this summer. Guess that explains why there was at least one in the truck Now I've also got to replace leaking coils, but not until it get cooler - say next January?

"Freak Wind" "Fluke" Really? Who Ignored Severe Weather Warning?

2011-08-17T19:14:00.000-05:00

Follow meteorologist Mike Smith's blog, Meteorologic Musings, for his ongoing comments re the tragedy at the Indiana State Fair. Smith is the Senior VP of AccuWeather's Enterprise Solutions.

Tuesday's CERT Continuing Education class happened to be on Incident Command. I had emailed Matt at the OEM the link (see previous post) to the live dispatch recording which he then used as a basis to chart out the various aspects of their Incident Command / Mass casualty structure (as it came into being), changing Incident Commander, etc. Disturbing but very interesting.

Indiana Stage Collapse: Fire Dept. Scanner, Incident Command Set Up, etc

2011-08-15T02:05:00.003-05:00

Recording of live scanner starting with initial dispatch of emergency FD vehicles and services immediately following stage collapse, incident command set up, some confusion, need for far more medical response, triage, etc. Entire recording is over an hour. Also, series of photographs showing shelf cloud moving overhead (source of high wind gusts) from Facebook.

Also view tape of collapse on Meteorologic Musings blog and read his comments: The Horror in Indianapolis

Personalized KnoWhat2Do Pocket Emergency Plan

2011-08-10T23:11:00.006-05:00

This handy online app was created under the auspices of Homeland Security. Except for a couple of phone numbers, this app will apply to any individual and family world wide. Freely share this link with everyone you know.

KnoWhat2Do Pocket Emergency Plan

The Heat Goes On ....

2011-08-07T13:56:00.000-05:00

More Record Heat!

2011-08-02T15:33:00.003-05:00

High Temps So Far Today Across the Area:

DFW:  109
Waco: 108

NWS Office (Fort Worth): 109
Dallas Love Field:       108
Mineral Wells:           110
Denton:                  108
Fort Worth Meacham:      108
Fort Worth Alliance:     110
McKinney:                108
Corsicana:               108
Arlington:               108

Monthly Outdoor Warning Siren Test tomorrow at 1p. Very happy I'LL be inside!

Radar Image of Purple Martins Spreading out at Dawn

2011-07-31T09:50:00.000-05:00

Summer Sucks / Favicon Added

2011-07-31T04:52:00.017-05:00

FWD Climatology Report

Just for the record, the highs the coming week are predicted to be up to 108 or 110. NOOOO!!

Quick Catch-Up and Cartoon

2011-07-19T09:27:00.010-05:00

Very sad personal news. My mother unexpectedly passed away on June 27th at the age of 84. The Arlington Amateur Radio Club (AARC) kindly sent a lovely arrangement for which the family has extended its appreciation and sincere thank yous. No choice but to just move on. It probably sounds strange, but I served as Net Control for the Arlington Monthly Siren Test Net the day after her funeral, which was a week after she died. Doing something else helped distract me for that short while. (Check out my other blog if you'd like to read more about what a wonderful woman Mother was, see a photo of Mom and one of my brother and young great-nephews playing a brass trio tribute at graveside services, etc.)

Weatherwise in DFW: Second warmest June on record, but highest low temps on record (trend continues!) Yesterday was #17 consecutive day >100 and #24 or 25 for summer so far. No relief in sight To quote NWS: "we will need several more weeks of 100 degree temperatures to rival the impressive heat waves of 1980, 1998, and 2006." www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd. It will likely take a tropical storm in the Gulf to break the high pressure system that is stuck on top of us. The 9-month period from September to end of June driest on record. Can't even get any pop-up showers!

Last night RACES Leadership Council meeting: Gerry (Tarrant County RACES liason), is putting together a soon-to-be required Training Class for new RACES members and those needing to renew membership. Also in the works for this fall is a special meeting between RACES Council, Net Controllers and Mark Fox (possibly others) from the NWS FWD to discuss communications between them and RACES. They issued many more "potential for severe weather" warnings this spring that produced little if any actual severe weather than they've done since I've been involved. Don't know if that is due to new criteria, out of an abundance of caution, or CYA, but between midnight and dawn there's not many (if any) spotters going to get out unless something really bad is about to hit us. We ran those as ARES Nets so ANYONE with any storm report could do so. Except for requests for reports, between 3am and dawn it was mostly dead air. Needless to say, as Net Control I didn't get any sleep at all.

RACES / ARES Nets So Far This Year

2011-06-07T12:51:00.001-05:00

• 04/04/11 RACES Net Control 0345 to 0630
• 04/10/11 RACES Net activation
• 04/14/11 RACES Net activation – Net Control for a bit: 2150 to 2320
• 04/19/11 RACES activation – Net Control 1630 to 1915
• 04/23/11 RACES activation – Back-up & Net Control 1803 – 0004
• 04/24/11 RACES activation – Net Control & Back-Up 1924 – 0019
• 04/25/11 3 RACES activations – Net Control & Back-Up 0324–0513; 1153–1209; 1510 – 1557
• 05/01/11 3 RACES activations – Net Control, etc. #1 0305 – 0435; #2 ARES: 0858-0957; #3 1725 – 1835
• 05/10/11 RACES activation 1327 – 1418
• 05/19/11 RACES Net Control Back-Up 1426 – 1703; ARES Net Control 1704 – 1730
• 05/22/11 ACES activation Net Control & Back-Up 1912 – 2107
• 05/24/11 At Arlington EOC as EOC Net Control for 3 lines of severe thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes 1615 to 2315

I'm pretty sure this number already exceeds the total number of RACES activations in all of 2009 and 2010.

Be Smart, Not Tough, About Tornadoes

2011-06-05T01:56:00.000-05:00

Professional stormchaser Jenna Blum's OpEd in the Boston Globe commenting on the recent Springfield, MA tornado and others. Jenna gave an interesting and entertaining accoun of how she became a stormchaser at TESSA in March. She's also the author of NY Times bestseller, "Those Who Save Us," and "The Stormchasers." Her website is: www.jennablum.com. I would love to be able to join her in a chase!

FEMA Head Describes Amateur Radio as "Our Last Line of Defense."

2011-06-03T19:53:00.000-05:00

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate described the Amateur Radio operator as “the ultimate backup, the originators of what we call social media.” Because of the resiliences of our wired and wireless infrastructure and public safety and public safety communications systems, FEMA has tended to dismiss the role of Amateur Radio but‘When Everything Else Fails.’ Amateur Radio oftentimes is our last line of defense.” But he also states that they do, have and will fail. "I think a strong Amateur Radio community [needs to be] plugged into these plans. Yes, most of the time they’re going be bored, because a lot of the time, there’s not a lot they’re going to be doing that other people aren’t doing with Twitter and Facebook and everything else. But when you need Amateur Radio, you really need them.”

Original AARL article

Wild and Very Wicked Weather

2011-05-27T13:58:00.001-05:00

I'll perhaps edit and be a LOT more specific, but suffice it to say that this year has been horrible weather wise with as many RACES activations so far as we've had total in the previous couple of years, and it's not even June. Everyone I know in the emergency community has been stunned and horrified by the death and destruction tornadoes have wrought throughout the country. With large tornadoes in OK, and Joplin still searching for survivors and the missing, we very much dreaded similar here. We knew 3 or 4 days in advance Tuesday, May 24 was going to be bad. How bad, was the question. I was called in to serve as radio operator for the Arlington EOC at 3:45, well in advance of rotating cells moving into northern Tarrant County. Those had numerous wall clous and dropped a couple of small tornadoes, exploding in size. We breathed a quick breath of relief, only to a second line of even stronger and more dangerous storms start moving in. Those produced more small tornadoes, produced golf ball to baseball size hail, and had brief 70mph wind gusts and sirens sounded all over the country. A small cell popped up in East Fort Worth, exploded in growth and was dropped golf balls as it moved into Arlington. It was also rotating. The EOC was immediately on the phone ordering the authorities at The Ball Park to immediately evacuate fans to shelter. Portions of that cell went over my house and I leaned later than 1/2" hail covered the laws and that something strange caused the tress in the back to blow in opposite directions at the same time. I asked Bill Bunting at NWS if it was a possible small spin up twister, and he replied that it couldn't be ruled out, but it was more likely since many of the storms were rotating and with the hail had rear flank downdrafts, it was a brief RFD. Thankfully no damage here. Officials at DFW Airport evacuated all passengers from planes and from the terminal to safe locations due to an approaching tornado and large hail. I got a text from DD that "lrgr than golf ball hail here." Her car is a mess. Early on I'd called my sister to call my nephew who lives only 1 mile east of a location where a wall cloudo with developing funnel was spotted. They watched it go over. When the Arlington cell started moving in she called my other nephew and told them to take shelter immediately. They were at the Ball Park. That particular cell moved into Dallas County and did drop a tornado in Lancaster / DeSoto. Then a 3rd line of storms popped up in a matter of a couple of radar sweeps and moved through the country and over Arlington as well. Thankfully the second line had drained much of the energy out of the atmosphere and they were the least severe. The last vestige of storms exited Tarrant County just before 11p.m. The Tornado Watch was cancelled and we all went home to destress and eat. I hadn't even had breakfast, but did grab a bag of animal crackers from a vending machine.

Officially there were 8 NWS confirmed tornadoes in the DFW area. The only death was from electrocution when a power pole was blown over on top of someone outside. Thankfully, I was NOT Net Control for this 8 hours period. Instead at the EOC I was monitoring 2 radio frequencies, watching radar, monitoring NWS Chat, trying to see the TV screen with local news reports way to far above my head, pass critical information to or have staff standing behind me asking questions, AND take copious notes. To say it was really more than 1 person can handle is ... well, it's practically all a blur now. With so many people affected, it is really petty of me to grouse (but only a teeny-weenie bit and only in hindsight), however I sat in a windowless office for 8 hours, saw almost nothing of news broadcasts and totally nothing of what was going on outside. Those storms, as bad and dangerous as they were, I would liked to have seen. Star-Telegram article here.

Tuscaloosa, Joplin, El Reno and other communities were all but wiped off the map. We had some bad weather. My prayers for all of you affected by the storms and flooding this year. What is going on???

2011-05-22T18:40:00.001-05:00

With yet another line of severe storms moving toward DFW, need to switch attention from ongoing process of changing look of blog.. It's been a VERY ACTIVE YEAR! I'm now an official Back-Up Net Control for Tarrant County RACES and an unofficial member but invited guest of the Leadership Council that meets at the Fort Worth/Tarrant County Joint EOC. Other than still conducting the ham portion of the monthly Arlington OEM outdoor warning siren tests, so far this year they've not requested radio operators to be onsite during severe weather events that impact Arlington and are monitoring the radios themselves.

Hams Provide Communications Support During West Texas Wildfires

2011-05-04T08:43:00.000-05:00

"We also sent hams to assist at the Alpine Police Department and the dispatch in Brewster County, as well as at the radio stations. Due to the fire, there was no electricity or phone service, so hams at the police department and dispatch handled traffic. The ham at the radio station received messages from the Emergency Operations Center in Brewster County concerning public safety, highway closures and evacuations to be broadcast over the air.” Click for full article. I was not involved, but this highlights the necessity and versatility of volunteer amateur radio operators providing communications for governmental agencies during emergencies.

Yes, more hail!!

2011-04-19T21:10:00.000-05:00

RACES Net Control. Primarily a hail event with sizes ranging from pea-size to golfballs and some 2" hail as well. Two plus solid hours of non-stop hail reports across Tarrant County. As a result I missed the CERT continuing education class about the city's emergency radio "Go Kits. Who knows. Maybe they listened to the RACES Net. Thankfully no hail at my house so baby tomatoes were safe.

Local Severe Weather & Tushka, OK Tornado

2011-04-15T00:25:00.004-05:00

Served as initial Net Control for Tarrant County RACES SKYWARN activation: 9:59p to 11:19p. Line of severe storms producing up to golf-ball size hail moved east across far north Tarrant into Dallas Co and E. Texas. Was part of the same system stretching up through OK & KS. My cousin reports 2 family member's houses were destroyed by the large tornado in Tushka, OK yesterday. All are safe. See video of the tornado taken by the Texas Storm Chasers, who stopped to help rescue victims and render aid. Thanks guys!

Since I'm still up

2011-04-11T03:51:00.003-05:00

Yay, RAIN!! A line of severe thunderstorms moved through overnight triggering 3 RACES Net activations in Tarrant County. 2 tornadoes in counties just south and further east of here. After our net closed, I listened to the Dallas County RACES Net. Their Net Control talks twice as fast as I even can! She must take notes twice as fast as well! Either that or has an eidetic memory. Or a voice-activated recorder. I use a legal pad and pencil.

MVP Awards

2011-04-09T14:26:00.001-05:00

Gerry Dalton received a Volunteer of the Year award from the City of Arlington for his many years of volunteerism with the Office of Emergency Management. He put in 90 hours organizing and assigning volunteers at the OEM/EOC during Super Bowl Week. I and 3 others received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Office of Emergency Management for our work with the OEM and CERT. This is my second. All attending AFD and OEM Super Bowl volunteers were called to stage and thanked in a an humbling speech by Fire Chief Don Crowson (far right in photo). City website article. Beautiful morning topped off when I won a Gift Basket from Arlington Animal Services full of very nice doggie items. I have cats. After discovering what was inside, I'll probably return all but the stuffed plus puppy that sings "I'm Crazy (about you)" back to the Shelter volunteers for their use. Or maybe I'll give in after 3 years and adopt another dog.

SuperBowl debrief, SKYWARN, TESSA and so forth

2011-04-06T20:17:00.002-05:00

"I really should update more often." How often do you read these words? Must be a lot of us lax bloggers.

The Super Bowl has come and gone - thankfully with the only issues of any particular and immediate concern turning out to be the worst winter weather in 25 or 40 years and understandably upset fans due to stadium seating problems. The unusually cold and icy winter weather moved back north substituting 10 to 15 degrees ABOVE normal within a week or two. A continuing significant drought has led to fire hazard warnings, burn bans, and wild fires throughout North Central Texas and Oklahoma. Rainfall in March was only .06" , the second driest on record. It did finally rain (and hail and blow) on April 4th. I'll take it! The rest of spring is reported to remain unusually dry. We've been on year-round watering restrictions for 2 or 3 years - no sprinkler watering between 10am and 6pm. Hand watering still okay. My neighbor and I both xeriscape (ok, she xeriscapes and I have let the native plants take over as they will). But still she runs a sprinkler every few days and last summer I only watered the front yard a couple of times. My yard benefits from her wind-blown moist spray and my other neighbors frequent watering as well. The back yard, an urban native growth "forest," is on its own.

Hi Ben!!

Well, on to it then. Volunteer activities since last October (that long? Yikes!) Because it turned out to be so long, comments re volunteering re the Super Bowl have been moved to a separate stand-alone Page. See above.

November - RACES Check-in and Training Net; Monthly Warning Siren Test cancelled, CERT Continuing Education; AARC
December 1 - Siren Test
December 4 - Saturday - Attended the Fort Worth National Weather Service Office's Open House in NW Fort Worth; later served as Net Control for Fort Worth's Jingle Bell Run held in Trinity Park for the first time. The RACES van was instructed to set up in a small parking lot a couple of blocks away from the staging area. That turned out to be inside the course meaning a couple of blocks from the porta-potties and unable to exit the location until after the Start/Finish Gate had been dismantled - some 30 minutes after the end race span - well after dark. The later-than-before start time meant some participants had to finish the unlit 5K course and walk back to their cars in almost total darkness. Really bad idea.
December 7 - AARC Christmas dinner at The Black Eyed Pea. Yum! Chicken fried steak, mashed red taters with skins & peppery white gravy, and their yellow squash casserole.
December 16 - CERT Christmas Pot-Luck at the EOC. I was surprised so few attended. With the OEM so focused on the Super Bowl, particularly the several months, CERT activities have been let slide and far too many members no longer participate .

2011

January 3 - RACES Net cancelled
January 5 - OEM Siren Test
January 7 - Served as a CERT volunteer at the EOC preceding and during the first 1/2 of the Cotton Bowl Game - now held in Cowboy Stadium. We used it as a practice drill for the upcoming Super Bowl. Answered one phone call, set out some food, cleaned up and took out some trash, then came home and watched the rest of the game.
January 18 - CERT ConEd - class held in the EOC as introduction to the EOC and what was expected of OEM volunteers before and during the upcoming Super Bowl event. Attendance required for those wishing to participate. As I recall 32 of us were there.
January 28 - Friday - At the OEM for 6 hours but at this point I can't remember what it was about. Super Bowl related I'm sure.
January 29 to February 7 - info and comments re Super Bowl volunteer experience have been moved to a separate Page due to length
February 7 - RACES Net
February 26 - Saturday - Day 1 THE COWTOWN marathon - Net Control for RACES assisting with radio communication between officials, various vehicles on the course, requests for resupply at water stations, etc. This year the events were held over a period of 2 days and the Start/Finish moved from downtown Fort Worth to the "Museum District." This day the Kids 5K and Adult 5K and 10K took place. Arrived in down right chilly temps at 4:30 a.m. The van wasn't heated. All races were concluded and awards handed out before 11:00. Then several of us went to Pulido's for lunch.
February 27 - Sunday - THE COWTOWN 1/2, full and ultra marathon. 4:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Net Control for Medical frequency and back-up for main Net Control. Another RACES member kept up with supply issues. Each of us kept a hand-written log. Mine is 11 pages long. Weather very windy, somewhat dusty, and a bit warm for running. A few medical issues required transport to hospital. Most were addressed by interns located along the route at various water stations, others at the Finish Line facility. I had to use the car a/c on the way home.
March 5 - Saturday - all day - NWS SKYWARN basic and advanced training in Fort Worth at the Convention Center - This is usually held the end of January, but because of the Super Bowl and venue scheduling conflicts it came rather later. Over 400 attended.
March 7 - RACES Net
March 11 - Saturday - all day - annual TESSA (TExas Severe Storm Assn) Conference in Colleyville. SUPER STORM SPOTTER training. Not sure why, but I didn't find it quite as interesting as I did in the past. Bought a RACES patch to sew on to my CERT shirt and a decal for the car. 450 in attendance.
March 25 - Friday - Late evening 2-1/2 hour ride-along with a member of COPs - Citizens on Patrol - as part of a saturation sweep. We heard a shot. Determined it to be a starting pistol then realized that the activity at the near by high school stadium was in fact a track meet.
March 26 - Participated in a Tarrant County Radio Drill - purpose was to make sure the numerous local EOCs and a couple of local hospitals could access all of the repeater frequencies in Tarrant County; Dave spent time after the drill familiarizing me with radios that I had not yet used at the EOC. Then I had to contact the COP driver and drive across town to pick up something that had fallen out of my backpack and left in his car the night before.
APRIL 4 - Initial Net Control during severe weather event beginning at 3:52 a.m., but only because I was awakened by distant rumbles. The storm spotter activation notification system initially malfunctioned. Frankly I rely on a phone call to wake me up rather than turn on my weather radio. Need to rethink that. At 5:12 Gerry (primary Net Control), woken by his truck alarm set off by 3/4" hail, activated RACES. I handed over Net Control shortly thereafter.
April 4 - RACES Net - Net control for one quadrant of Tarrant County in a "scatter net" exercise. That entails the radio operators initially tuning to the main RACES frequency then being directed to another frequency handling traffic in the quadrant in which they reside.
April 6 - today - first Wednesday - Siren Test; Irish Hancock handled the assignments and radio reports in my stead. I did radio in a report for the siren I can hear from home. He advised me next month I'm doing it. For this being his first time to run the siren test net, he did very very well. My concern always is that if the staff figure out those of them with amateur radio licenses can do it then perhaps they won't want nor need outside volunteers - and I rather enjoy having some access to location and staff at the OEM/EOC from time to time. The reality is that in the event of an emergency, we need to be familiar with them and the equipment and they equally with us. They won't have the time to keep up with amateur radio communications.
April 9 - There is a Municipal Volunteer Program (MVP) Recognition Fair to which I, and I assume other CERT members, were invited to attend. Not sure what it's about. In the past CERT and EOC volunteers were not considered part of the general City volunteer programs. Will be interesting to see if we're being integrated into that system or if the OEM isn't going to have a separate recognition lunch this year.

I pat myself on the back for having the chutzpah to belatedly dive head first into something I was only marginally familiar with. I am also very fortunate and thankful that I've been continually mentored upward and onward during this very interesting ride. Always good to be needed and appreciated some where by some one.

VOLUNTEER - LEARN SOMETHING NEW - MAKE A DIFFERENCE

FREE Game Day Parking at Lincoln Square with $75 in Merchants' Receipts!!

2011-01-31T04:22:00.001-06:00

Note: The bit about only being 1 block from the Stadium is WRONG. It's at least .4 mile from the closest parking spot and could be almost twice that distance. But HEY, IT'S FREE!! Free Lincoln Square Game Day Parking

Coming to Super Bowl XLV? Important Info

2011-01-24T10:41:00.005-06:00

A personal welcome to Arlington!! We're delighted to have you! Here's some of the latest important info:

WARNING: Don't bother with most online maps and turn off your GPS. Due to massive road construction projects on and along I-30 and around the Stadium site in the past few years (some only barely completed in time) most of those services have not been updated and are wrong. Arlington City Officials worry visitors may get lost. 1/23/11 WFAA TV newsstory:

Road Closures: Some roads around the Stadium have already been closed and others will divert or limit traffic for the next couple of weeks, on game day some will be one-way only or closed entirely. See:
www.arlingtontx.gov/superbowl/SBRoadClosureMap.pdf

Information from the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau A good site with comprehensive Arlington and Cowboy Stadium info separate from the official NFL SuperBowl site. Be sure to read the Game Day Security info, particularly about the very tight security measures that will prohibit entering the stadium with items generally otherwise allowed, such as camcorders, baby strollers, food or beverages (those'll be EXPENSIVE!), horns, cushions, etc. Don't even bring them with you from wherever you arrive. They won't let them in and security officials won't watch after them for you. So it's back to the car (if you arrived in one) or I assume they'll end up in the trash. See the surprising list!! http://www.arlington.org/super-bowl-xlv

Regional Transportation on Super Bowl Sunday:
http://www.northtexassuperbowl.com/going-cowboys-stadium-super-bowl-sunday

The TRE (Trinity Railway Express) station at Centreport is just south of DFW Airport (buses from airport to station if you fly in that morning - but why would you risk that??) where you'll be tranfering to a bus for the apx 9 mile drive to the Stadium, subject to the whims of what is going to be very heavy traffic. Arrive EARLY!! As I understand it, the drop off point will be about 1/2 mile from the Stadium. Same for taxis and limos. Be aware if you're flying in that Arlington does not have public transportation other than taxis. Good luck. Ask your hotel about ground transportation from that location to as close as possible to the Stadium. If a 1/2 to 3/4 mile one-way hike doesn't bother you, the Sheraton and Mariott Courtyard are within walking distance and your best (and perhaps only) bet. Not sure what they are doing for those with mobility issues.

Official Stadium Parking: The wide security perimeter has taken up much of the official Stadium Parking. http://sbxlv.clickandpark.com/superbowl

Other Nearby Parking - Don't feel like a long hike? The closer you park in these privates lots the more you pay. How about $990 for .1 mile? Others within 1/2 mile as low as $110. Feel like a 1.2 mile stroll? Only $60 bucks. Looking at the list apparently every business and some churches around there is selling parking space (might as well, the businesses will pretty much have to closed due to Stadium traffic patterns). Lists of parking venues, including official lots, prices and loction map here. Here's a Star Telegram article with comment by an owner of one of the private lots.

Other Info:

Official NFL Parking Opens at 10a.m.
No recreational vehicles or motor homes allowed in official lots
NO TAILGATING in official lots
Taxis will be allowed to drop-off and pick-up on Road to Six Flags located North and West of Rangers Ballpark. (That's almost 1/2 mile)
There are no bus, limousine, sedan or shuttle drop-off or pick-up areas at Cowboys Stadium - wherever they drop off, you'll have a hike
NO SCALPING POLICY is STRICTLY enforced - there are eyes in the sky, the transaction will most likely be seen and if so, someone will be arrested, your tickets will almost certainly be forgeries, they will be confiscated and you will end up at the police station (if you can get there) filing a complaint hoping to get your money back instead of watching the game. Because of very sophisticated fake tickets, don't trust anyone offering you any ticket at any price.

Food and Beverage Choices and $$$ inside the Stadium: It ain't cheap, but hopefully better than your typical stadium fare. Maybe. Food & Beverage

Other NFL Events: All the other events in the DFW area, where, how much, directions, etc.

CAUTION: You are on candid camera. There are numerous public safety cameras around and inside the Stadium. This is true of every major sports venue and is a really good thing.

JUST ANNOUNCED this morning: In addition to the Black Eyed Peas at half-time, Keith Urban and Maroon 5 have been added to the Super Bowl XLV Fox Pregame Lineup (I foresee the older generations changing channels en masse)

The NFL took possession of the Stadium right after the Cotton Bowl on January 7th and is adding all of it's special touches, including additional interior and exterior seating. Cowboy season ticket holders were advised Friday or Saturday that they may purchase tickets at $200 each (minimum 4) to stand outside and watch on the Jumbo Tron (now WHY would anyone spend an inordinate amount of time in traffic and waste their $$ to do that?? Go to a local Sports Bar if you don't want to watch SB45 alone at home, for goodness sake!)

I've lived in Arlington for decades. If you have any questions or would like additional info about Arlington, the Stadium (yes, I've been inside - twice - even on the field) or Fort Worth (such as Sundance Square that ESPN is going to be Broadcasting from or really interesting things to do), post your questions in the comment section and I'll try to answer them. I might even accurately respond to questions about the Mid-Cities or Dallas.

See an interesting but not entirely accurate composite of what the Fort Worth ESPN Sundance Square site will look something like and read the Star Telegram article.

- Linda

OEM Photo & Volunteer Opportunities

2010-11-03T12:35:00.003-05:00

A photo of some of the Office of Emergency Management Staff taken and posted on Facebook by the US National Weather Service Fort Worth. Left to Right: Matt, Rebekah, Irish Hancock (OEM Administrator), Mayor Robert Cluck, NWS (embarrassed but name escapes me) and Fort Worth NWS Warning Coordinator Meteoroilogist Mark Fox.

Since I last posted:

August: - RACES check-in and training net and the monthly warning siren test
September - RACES check-in and training net and monthly warning siren
September 7 - RACES activation for spin-up tornadoes part of the former Hurricane Hermine system moving north through central and north Texas
September 8 - RACES activation for torrential rains of up to 11 inches just south of Arlington causing major flooding across the entire Central and North Texas area - short stint at EOC then home to constant droning of helicopters hovering above flooded apartment complex (about a mile from my house) taking video of several rescues that made international news. I had over 6" at my house, then my rain guage overflowed.. The creek at the bottom of the back yard looked like a lake. I've never seen it that high. Water came up over the bridge on the major street around the corner. My neighbors, driving around to see the water and damage, drove into water much higher than they expected and ended up with new car.
September 19 - CERT volunteer at all day EOC Super Bowl Exercise
October - RACES check-in and training net and the monthly warning siren test
October 11 - meeting at OEM re the monthly warning siren test - Arlington is instituting an "adopt a siren" program giving local citizens the opportunity to report in on their neighborhood siren rather than having a Ham operator observing it from time to time. There has been some mis-communication as to who is going to observe what siren. Today was the first opportunity to try new approach, but test was cancelled due to weather
October 16 - served at Net Control for RACES public service event: Alzheimer's Memory Walk held in Trinity Park in Fort Worth; came back to Arlington and got in on the tail end of Tarrant County Health Department radio exercise that ran considerably past the time expected
October 23 - brief RACES activation for severe weather moving through NE Tarrant County; F0 touch down at 820 & Trinity Blvd doing limited damage
October 24 - I wasn't personally involved, but Emergency Manager from Navarro County took this video way too close to the F2 that hit Rice, Texas. See video here:
October 30 - GO RANGERS!! - World Series Games #3-5 held in Arlington. I was at the EOC for Game #3 - the one the Rangers won!! Answered phones, made coffee, set out pizza delivery for consumption, tossed empty boxes, emptied trash, and watched game on the big screen it was sharing with several traffic camera feeds. It was a bit strange watching the last hitter on the 7-second delay Fox feed while seeing fireworks already going off from a traffic camera in a box next to it. Forgot to take any pictures! Came home and ate coffee ice cream in celebration.

August and HOT HOT HOT

2010-08-06T04:28:00.003-05:00

If we hadn't had one of the coldest winters in decades, I'd worry about the seemingly forever climbing temps. I'm personally convinced that the sun is up to something - like putting out more energy. It's happened before. At present, Mr. Sol is just coming out of an unusually calm and long minimal period and just beginning the climb to the maximum in it's 22-year cycle. I've read recently that we've been in an unusually long calm sun period for most of this century. Whee. Just in time to get active and send out coronal mass ejections and charged particles that will fry all those lovely communications satellites - but create beautiful Northern Lights. Wish I lived where I could actually see them. July and August have been sort of slow volunteer wise.

4th of July: Served as Net Control for several radio operators stationed along Arlington's 4th of July Parade route. Arrived at 6:15am at the UTA "South 40" parking lot where parade floats and participants soon began lining up for the 9am start. There was so much noise in the parking lot and along the route that it was very difficult to hear what was being said. Next time noise blocking headset! Didn't leave until after noon when parade was completed and participants had already gone home. Afterward had lunch with some of the operators at Jason's Deli. For a drastic change, the weather was cloudy and relatively "cool" in the mid- to upper-80's, but with extremely high humidity!

July 7th: Monthly Outdoor Warning Siren Test was canceled about 9am because of clouds and potential pop-up storms. Naturally by 1pm, it was clear with nary a storm anywhere around.
July 15th: A Lt. from the Arlington PD supervised a group consisting of Citizens on Patrol members (COPS) and radio operators in a neighborhood door-to-door canvas seeking information or tips about a woman who had been missing for over a week. It was the first such joint effort in Arlington and seemed to go very well. Sadly, though some new tips were generated, I don't believe the woman has been located. While 7 small teams went door-to-door, I stayed with the Lt. and his small command vehicle. Temps were at 100 and the vehicle put out even more heat as the engine had to be run to keep his computers up. We're looking forward to participating with the police department more in the future.
About a week later or so, a small but intense storm cell crossed over the NW corner of Tarrant County. When I turned my radio on, I discovered one of the National Weather Service employees was seeking direct information from the radio community although no weather alert had gone out. Since no one else had done so (and it was apparent the NWS employee couldn't handle taking reports and do his job) I offered to take reports so he could spend his time watching radar, etc. Only took a couple of inconsequential reports as the cell was already dying out. I've never heard a NWS employee so very informational and wordy over the radio. Perhaps he is new. Very odd situation which I'm not sure I handled exactly right. It won't happen that way again. I've been wanting to take Emergency Communications II, but there's still some apparent confusion as to how the ARRL is combining II & III.
August 2nd - The City of Arlington Monthly Outdoor Warning Siren Test (try saying that 3 times fast!) - the City is experimenting with a proposed "Adopt a Siren" program utilizing radio operators and civilians, who call in to a special line, as observers of specific or assigned sirens. It's new. It had a few kinks, but those will be worked out before next month. Two of the observed the sirens had had their grounding wires severed with sections missing. Vandalism or copper thieves? City employees will do a spot check on others in the same area. As lightning does strike sirens from time to time, those grounding wires are an absolute necessity.

More Fun Times as a Volunteer and Learning to be Net Control at the County Level

2010-06-30T20:24:00.001-05:00

Since my last post the best volunteer opportunity and experience I've had was recently attending the Texas Unites Conference sponsored by Texas VOAD and Texas Citizen Corps, held at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas - 23.8 miles and a 35 to 40 minute drive - one way. I avoided the mess of trying to get on Walton Walker (that spur that runs just north of downtown linking 35E & 75 - North Central Expressway - 35E being a total bottleneck to merge on to during rush hour) and wisely went through downtown instead. MUCH less traffic! As I walked in the front door of the hotel wondering where to head, I heard "Linda." I glanced seeing no one. "Linda!" I was absolutely ecstatic to see my emergency management mentor and friend, Ben Patterson, who is now Disaster Recovery Coordinating Manager for the State of Texas. Great conference with excellent programs (although aimed primarily at upper and mid-level emergency managers and volunteer coordinators) - very good networking opportunities. And really great seeing and visiting with Ben after a full year. HI BEN!!

See my new Page on Amateur Radio and RACES for simple explanations of various terms.

Other recent volunteer activities:

7/3 I was asked if I would like to be a Net Controller for Arlington's very big deal 4th of July parade - third largest in the country. Of course! I just need to show up before 6am. It's my first opportunity to get to use the radios in the RACES van.
6/23-24 The Texas Unites Conference in Dallas, which included a mini-NWS SKYWARN class given by Mark Fox of the FWD NWS - good to see him again as well
6/26 Not really a volunteer event, but I participated in Field Day, an annual ham radio event. I had hoped to have access to the much fancier radios and get some interstate experience, but the long time radio operators essentially hogged all the radios, though the purpose of field day is to introduce the public to the use and hobby of amateur radio. My job ended up sitting at the registration desk keeping company with the woman given that job. Not what I expected to end up doing most of the day. I never did have actual contact with a radio, but I did, by being insistent, manage to get a newbie access to a radio to try out, and delightfully discovered that one of the members plays and teaches bagpipes, which she brought with her to practice on.
6/7 RACES monthly Check-In net - only this time I had the opportunity to serve as as an alternate Net Controller when the original Net Controller, my other mentor Radio Dave, encountered radio difficulties. All I had to do was ask the next 3 operators to report their call signs and repeat them back for accuracy in order for them to get credit for having participated. Afterwards I called Radio Dave and found out he had actually fixed his problem rather quickly but let me get in the practice and I guess gather some additional introduction to operators across Tarrant County. While this doesn't sound like much, it once again gave me the opportunity to practice being Net Control. The only thing important about that is that I am able to gain credence such that in an emergency the active members aren't sitting there wondering "Who the !!##?? is that, and is she even authorized?" My RACES mentor, Gerry, called it real-time practice. I call it a bit of fun. This statement is by someone who for the first year she had her radio license was too timid to press the transmit key and say ANYTHING on air, and who, during her first RACES severe thunderstorm report was so excited and NERVOUS Net Control couldn't understand a word I said. It was rather embarrassing and NOT a good start. Thankfully, when nerves are under control, I have a calm, steady and very understandable speaking voice. At least I hope so.
6/2 Noon: Net Controller for Monthly Warning Siren Test. Evening: For the first time I had the opportunity to participate as stand-in Net Control for a RACES severe weather event that came about when Net Control Gerry needed someone to relieve him for a few minutes. I waited but since no one else responded, I tentatively offered. I thought it would just be for maybe 5 minutes. Instead, when he came back some time after that, and I started to relinquish Net Control back to him, he told me to continue. Wow! I knew he was monitoring and ready to step in, but he didn't until the NWS indicated our services were no longer needed. Then he did take back Net Control for the sole purpose to deactivate the Net. A good thing since I had no script and no way to turn off the special RACES Net Morse Code tone that sounds at the end of each transmission. I was really surprised to be allowed to handle this to begin with and delighted to have the opportunity to practice for as long as I did. Had the weather been really severe, someone with more experience would have been doing it. Not me. Not just then anyway.
5/27 Served at Net Controller for the Arlington Hospital Check-in Net

Again, check out my new page on Amateur Radio stuff, but be patient. It's definitely a work in progress.

Once again Arlington dodged the bullet

2010-05-20T18:00:00.000-05:00

Despite dire predictions for two or 3 weeks, and Oklahoma getting slammed over and over, and desepite some storms that activated RACES Tuesday I think), all we had was a rain event that stayed south of I-20. The last couple of days we've been waiting on storms developing along a front, then a dry line, then warm front. First Wed, then Thursday then overnight, then by this morning.

About 11:20 I checked the local radar - nothing. I posted another blog entry at 11:28, got up to go fix myself some lunch. Had taken 2 bites of my sandwich and the phone rang: a taped notification that RACES had been activated due to storms .... It was 11:46. I grumbled it must be a glitch in the new notification system about a previous event, but switched the TV to the radar channel just out of habit:

YIKES - WHERE DID THOSE STORMS COME FROM??? Turned on my radio and confirmed a RACES Net in progress. Made a quick call to Radio Dave to see if the EOC had been activated - it hadn't. Took another bite. Dave called back and said it had and he was heading down. As I was dumping my lunch back in the fridge I heard someone report a rotation not far from parent's house not that far away. I quickly called Dad, put on cleaner clothes, ran a toothbrush across my teeth and a quick gargle, then grabbed radio, ID badge, purse and was out the door by 11:55. It occurred to me later I hadn't even looked in the mirror or brushed my hair.

I radioed to RACES that I was going to a certain location (along my way to the EOC) to stop. From the Women's Club parking lot I had a good view north and west. I saw the formation the earlier report had been made about but saw neither lowering or rotation. Reported there was significant low level sheer but winds were almost calm and no inflow. After 5 or so minutes I went on in to the EOC to help man the radio. This is really only the second time I've actually taken the opportunity to spot" Normally I head straight to the EOC. With an old car, dents wouldn't make any difference but I just don't trust it to work exactly at the precise moment I might to skedaddle away from imminent harm!

It's a llittle concerning sitting in the Emergency Operations Center knowing a storm with another rapidly developing storm with a very strong hook echo is first passing directly over your house then pretty much overhead! The Radio Room has several walls between it and the nearest window, but I when the TV stations started reporting a lowering not 3 or 4 miles SE of our location, I did go to the 2nd floor lunchroom, the one sided with a floor to ceiling bank of windows, to look. Hey, I got to the a small wall cloud!! I reported back to the EM's, all of whom had congregated in the EOC ready to react as necessary, that I could confirm lowering but saw no rotation. The cell moved east into Dallas Co where it the wall cloud continued to organize and the storm dumped significant hail. After 2 hours, all the cells had moved East or SE - where they subsequently dropped small tornadoes just over the county line and continue as I type to move SE with continuing possible tornadic activity. With no additional pop-ups or development to the West or NW, tThe NWS gave permission to close the RACES Net about 1:50 but we hung around until 2, just in case. I came home to finish the sandwich I'd just started when I got the phone RACES alert phone call. Thankfully, nothing dropped until it moved out of our county!

The problematic issue is that with both Radio Dave & I at the EOC, the total number of spotters in Arlington was only eventually 3 - including a city employee who was in the right spot to watch what was going on. Radio Dave served as Net Controller for RACES and I served as Net Controller on the Arlington repeater to take reports from radio operators who have taken SKYWARN but for some reason have not joined RACES. Works well. I also was doing real time event logging by recording the radio reports as they came in.

We happen to have a radio club meeting tonight. Don't know if Dave will be there, but I intend to bring up the disturbing lack of "eyes on the ground" when today was exactly the type of situation where we needed more than we had, and certainly had the real potential for a LOT of operators to be available.

A Volunteer of the Year!!

2010-04-24T23:51:00.000-05:00

At an appreciation luncheon held by the Office of Emergency Management on Monday the 24th, I was honored to be named one of six Arlington CERT Volunteers of the Year! Each of us received a brief feature in the City of Arlington online newsletter. Here is THE LINK to mine.

Others receiving a Certificate of Appreciation were:

   Gloria and Joe Steinlechner
   Jim Taylor
   LeaAnn Shilling
   Dan Grasher (invited but could not attend)

To read about these volunteers (each of us was featured on a different day), check THE INDEX during the week of April 19th for "Meet..."

Long Absence - Sorry, tis long

2010-04-07T16:09:00.005-05:00

Basically, other aspects of my life got in the way of this blog despite all good intents. Probably best to go backwards in time, TRYING to be as brief as possible:

Today 4/7/2010: Monthly warning siren testing canceled at last minute due to sudden pop-up of narrow band of cells spitting droplets and producing some rumbles. Since a few observers were already in place, we at least had reports re the security status of those locations
3/27 - Final Exercise for newest CERT training class held at the the Fire Training Center - I hung around the real Fire Battalion's SUV and gave some simple pointers to the trainee serving as the Incident Commander, like "Did you assign a CERT member to remain at Triage for at least nominal first aid and to monitor the victims?" (uh, no) and "Have you informed your Battalion Chief you need immediate transport for your Code Red victims?" (uh ... Chief !) Others, also more experienced CERT members, made appropriate suggestions at other site locations - common sense stuff someone new to or caught up in a chaotic situation just doesn't get around to thinking about. It's always a learning experience for EVERYONE involved, including the AFD. CERT is gaining growing respect from our professional First Responders - now if they would only use us for something more than for general assistance at public events! OTOH, it's a good thing they haven't actually NEEDED the volunteer assistance.
3/24 evening - RACES briefly activated for narrow line of potentially severe storms moving into Tarrant County - which instead generally fizzled as that section hit the western edge of Fort Worth.
3/24 day - Tornado Symposium for 10th anniversary of Fort Worth tornado (THAT long ago??) with overview of storm formation, path, damage and lessons learned.. It was meant to be a big deal for local emergency managers and staff, the public, etc. but no more than 200 attended. Left a bit early because when the sun came out the possibility of strong storms popping up increased significantly. NWS issued a severe weather alert a couple of hours later, then quickly cancelled for this area.
3/13 -TESSA (TExas Severe Storm Assn) - National Storm Conference and Super Spotter training - not as much overlap with Skywarn this year - excellent presentations! - "The 100 square mile tornado path: Greensburg comes to Dallas" led off the afternoon agenda. This superimposed the tracks of the EF5 2007 Greensburg, KS tornado and the 3 additional spin off tornadoes over the DFW Metroplex such that the one that destroyed Greensburg initially touched down just south of Arlington, passed across the UTA campus then plowed through the Arlington Entertainment District - across Cowboy Stadium, the Ballpark and Six Flags, proceeded straight up Hwy 360 at rush hour then across the southern 1/2 of DFW airport - where the first tornado looped left and roped out while the second tornado formed and headed northeast over Irving, Carrollton, Plano. The other 2 two caught McKinney and continued up almost to the Red River. I have a photo of that slide and will post with I get around to d/l photos from camera.
3/10 - Apx 9am - RACES activated for narrow band of potentially severe storms moving in from west. There are 4 walls between the Radio Room and any window. Because there were no reports of anything more than momentary pea-size hail and none at all from Arlington, consequently I had no idea it had hailed quite a bit in Arlingtonl until I got home and neighbors told me.
3/3 - Net Control for siren testing. First full test for the 2 new sirens located near Cowboy Stadium.
2/13 - NBA All Star Game at Cowboy Stadium - a few CERT volunteers worked shifts at the EOC - however it was to answer the phone (which only rang 3 times in 18 hours), hand out visitor ID's, set out food when it showed up, but mostly to MAKE COFFEE! LOT'S of coffee. My shift was from 6am to 11. I ended up staying until almost midnight ... just because. It was interesting seeing the generally empty EOC full with police, fire, reps from the FBI, an NBA rep, officials from Dallas FD and PD, as well as LAPD, which hosts the next All Star Game. There was also a rep from the Fort Worth NWS office. At the time I didn't know who he was, but when I ran into him at the Tornado symposium, he remembered me from the EOC . Ultimately it was a long primarily boring day, and that's a good thing.
2/11 - A FOOT OF SNOW IN DFW!! which lasted at a depth of at least a couple of inches for several days, the last of it finally melting in the shade of my yard over a week later. I had to use the garden spade to shovel a huge pile of snow from behind my car to get to the OEM for NBA game day - in my sandals. I finally located my sneakers a couple of days later.
2/3 - Siren test cancelled due to clouds
1/30 - NWS Skywarn Training held at TCU in Fort Worth - over 400 in attendance. I forget how many of these I have attended. Always interesting and inevitably some of that meteorological science has penetrated my brain.
1/6 - Siren Test Day - only someone else had to serve as Net Control. I had absolutely no voice then nor for most of the next 4 weeks. I did listen for my nearby siren from home and called in to whisper it was working at the end of the test.
12/24-25 - SNOW SNOW SNOW !!!!! An honest to goodness record breaking WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! First in 78 years!!
12/2 - Net Control for siren testing
11/24 - Served as a greeter for the H1N1 shot clinic at the Arlington Convention Center - despite LONG lines at earlier clinics, this one was poorly attended and by noon it was broadcast on the local news that ANYONE from ANYWHERE, regardless of medical condition could come in for a free shot. Except for a small crowd that arrived before the clinic opened and had a few minutes wait in line, everyone else who trickled in throughout the day walked straight through, including most of the volunteers. I learned from a representative from Tarrant County Public Health that they had prepared 200 doses for pregnant women. I saw only perhaps 2 or 3 the entire day. All the unused doses had to be destroyed. I heard on the news within in the past week that unless Tarrant County can find someone to take their current dated supplies of vaccine, it will have to be destroyed. After ALL THAT HYPE and mega-expense, what a waste!
11/17 - CPaRlington !! 4,626 8th graders bussed to Cowboy Stadium to participate in mass CPR training resulting in Guinness World Record for CPR training displayed on the Jumbotron, followed by a donated lunch of pepperoni sandwiches (don't ask me!), chips, fruit, cookie and milk. I and several others (including 2 of the Dallas Stars tiny, petite cheerleaders) stood at the players entrance tunnel, cheered, clapped my hands to get the kids uber-excited, pointing up to the Jumbotron. The kids' entrance was being televised live on that 160' wide, 72' tall screen. Unfortunately, so was I - unlike the kids, I made a point NOT to look up. I had no idea such a huge percentage of junior high students had cell phones with cameras! A solid mass of students 15 or more deep ringed the stadium floor. Once the kids were in, my job was to sort of wander around and see what assistance anyone might need. American Heart Assn volunteers saw to the CPR training needs of students and teachers. All went VERY smoothly. No emergencies. The 100 or so adult volunteers were thankfully treated to pizza with water or soda. We could eat a left-over kid's lunch as well. The apple was okay. Organizers intended that the students take home their small CPR Annie to teach family members, but that was not made clear in advance and and many of the teachers told their students to leave them behind - meaning that a large percentage of them were sadly collected as trash. After the students left and volunteers got lunch, background checked official CERT members got a special behind the scenes tour of the stadium that none of the general public, and pretty much no one else not directly involved ever will.. Fascinating!! But one needs a map to keep from getting lost. In fact, our OEM guide who had been there many times did just that.. Within 45 minutes of 5000 students and staff vacating, what wasn't already picked up by volunteers the ground crews had totally cleared. Jerry Jones provided the entire facility and all the necessary staff at no cost. I believe he also donated the lunches. Linda to Jerry: Forget the pepperoni sandwiches! Otherwise, a great day!!
11/16 - Help set up venue for CPaRlington: a handful of CERT volunteers along with a few American Heart Assn. volunteers and some Fire Department personnel converged on the field at Cowboy Stadium to set out 5,000 packages of simple CPR Annies (these had only plastic face and upper chest that required blowing up somewhat like a balloon) in an evenly spaced grid (using the yard line markers and measuring sticks no less) around the outer areas of the field. At one end, the background video for a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader promo was being shot with a local RAP artist hyping up a young and cool (hip?) group of excited volunteer fans. A couple of cleaning crews were using high-pressure hoses to wash down every seat, floor and nook and cranny in the stadium, which already appeared spotless. I made a point to walk out and stand in the middle of the Star on the 50 yard line and slowly turned a full 360 degrees in a greatly subdued version of "I'm Cowboy Queen of the World." Why not?, I asked myself. Please don't answer that one. Ok, have done that now. I'd mark it off my lists of things to do, but standing in the middle of the Star on the field of Cowboy Stadium as if I owned the place was never on one. If there was any one thing that really caught my attention, it was the Le Sueur peas-size rubber pellets that look like large insect droppings in the artificial turf. They kept getting between the bottom of my feet and my Dr. Shoal's sandals. Having also hiked across the field a couple of times at Texas Stadium, I can report that even with the weird black bits, this field is far more comfortable to walk on than something that felt like a thick dense sponge. I left about 11p. Some of the Firemen were still rearranging the training heads. Likely my ONLY ever visits inside Cowboy Stadium. Oh, well. Wandering around willy-nilly in a group of 10 or 15 is FAR preferable to battling the crowds that jam that place. One other observation: from the seats and from the field at Texas Stadium, the place looked soooo much smaller in person than it ever did on TV. The new Cowboy Stadium looks huge from ANY location.
11/4 - Net Control for siren testing
10/10 - Daughter wedding #2 - in my DFW parent's back yard - beach theme - weather: heavily overcast, 52 degrees, steady damp wind, high humidity, guests wore sweaters and coats. Evening brought heavy misty chilly fog and even more miserable weather. In October, it was far more likely to have been near 100 with a cloudless sky and sweltering sun. Between the two extremes I actually preferred the damp chill.
10/7 - Siren testing canceled due to weather
9/28 - Spur of the moment deep sea fishing trip on a 60' party boat with newlyweds. I only got seasick once, but my sense of balance was so compromised I had to sit to fish and didn't dare lean over to pick up bait. Within 2 hours of docking, I was on the plane home. It took 3 or 4 days before the floor and my computer finally stopped rolling to and fro. I add this because there was a man wearing a CERT cap, who turned out to be a retired fireman and was familiar with the program. I would have enjoyed discussing it with him, but for some reason he was there just to fish.
9/27 - Daughter's wedding #1, at sunset on the beach in Fort Walton Beach FL - weather: lovely lavender, orange & pink cumulonimbus in the distance, sort warm breeze, if a bit too windy, the sun went down on cue right after the I-do's - ABSOLUTELY PERFECT - Thank you, Florida!!
9/19 - Workday at the OEM to inspect, repair and organize ham radio equipment - I bailed
9/2 - Net control for siren testing
8/5 - Net Control for siren testing
7/26 and 8/2 - Emcomm I training - Emergency Communications - passed the AARL test - waiting on AARL to decide how to merge II and III to take whatever may be next.

The above is in addition to 1st Monday RACES check-in Nets and 3rd Wednesday RACES training Nets, some of which I managed to remember, the monthly CERT training classes, and up until October or November monthly EMST meetings. That group has been rolled in under CERT, a still somewhat contentious decision and ongoing issue with many radio operators dropping out entirely, particularly after they learned that the Arlington OEM had decided they must take CERT training in order to be a volunteer radio operator with the OEM. I was one of 2 or 3 already cross-trained by personal choice. Those matters are still up in the air. I even made it to a few of the monthly Arlington Amateur Radio Club meetings. At some point last fall my friend, Radio Dave, came over and put up the 15' radio antenna that I'd been given last February. It looks like a Knight's lance with double hand shields. With that antenna I can now reach Dallas, Denton, Weatherford and other out-lying communities whereas with the small antenna on the hand held, during bad weather I could hear but not transmit to the Fort Worth repeater.

Apologies for the length. I did have to cover 9 months.

If you have any questions about any of the above, leave a comment. THANKS!

NCTTRAC Radio Drill

2009-07-24T12:51:00.005-05:00

Handled NCTTRAC check-in for 4 Arlington hospitals this morning on the primary Arlington repeater frequency. Other Tarrant County EOC's apparently all checked in either to the City of Fort Worth and/or the Tarrant County repeaters. There is apparently some contention as to who has actual priority under NIMS. Arlington, with a population approaching 400,000 and the site of the new Cowboy Stadium and a greater potential for a MCI, chose to do did it's own thing. Following check-in with the EOC radio operators at the Arlington hospitals were directed to make direct contact with the Red Cross via simplex. Red Cross was asked to report back to Arlington on our repeater frequency. One operator was unable to set the radio at new frequency. The 3 others encountered heavy noise and were unable to make contact via simplex despite line-of-sight. One operator was unable to access the radio equipment at his designated location and was using a personal HT. Red Cross did not report back to the Arlington EOC, and I was unable to make subsequent contact with them on the primary FW frequency/repeater. This will obviously needs to be rectified ASAP. Dave wasn't sure what the problem was. An issue, at least in this region, that came to light prior to the drill is that notice and details of the drill were sent to hospital administration, many of which apparently failed to forward it on to the necessary personnel.

E-NET-OPS Emergency Net Operator (ARRL EMCOMM Level 1 Certification)

2009-07-12T16:20:00.004-05:00

Classes to be held at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas on July 26 and August 2nd. For Details and email to ask about registration click here.

EMST/CERT Combined NIMS training Set for July 17th

2009-07-11T06:00:00.002-05:00

NIMS - National Incident Management System

Interesting Water Spout Footage from Greece

2009-07-05T11:52:00.002-05:00

Water spout footage through rope out taken from the Island of Lefkaka on June 23rd.

Monthy Siren Test / Startling personal news

2009-07-02T02:11:00.004-05:00

The loss of Ben Patterson has left some apparent confusion as to who needs to be doing things they were not necessarily aware he was doing with regard to coordination of activities involving Radio volunteers. Consequently there was no one at the EOC to give me access at the time I needed to start the pre-test script. In fact, knowing at the last minute there would not be, I started it from my HT in my drive-way, continued in the Administration Bldg parking lot, and then from the hallway outside the EOC while still waiting. Didn't get access until less than 10 minutes before the test was to start, THEN had some radio problems that took a few minutes to figure out and clear up (which is why we always want to be there early!) Though a few minutes late in starting, the testing of both the direct and battery power systems went without a hitch and ended right on time. Still, it was pretty frustrating there for a while.

Debrief with today's responsible staff member revealed the reasons for the confusion which led to honest communication. It won't happen again - I hope. Can't vouch for the radios, however. Complicating matters a bit more was that today we had 2 first-time volunteers to whom I had intended to give a bit of info before we started, but then was not able to, and fewer experienced volunteers were out than usual.

The short debrief also brought to light that the person currently assigned to CERT (and maybe others) has a somewhat different take than Ben had as to what CERT was initially intended to be, what it should be limited to, and what volunteers should (or should not) be asked or expected to do. No idea what, if anything, might happen there. EMST is still an up-in-the-air issue as well - at least for me. We spent parts of three monthly meetings just discussing (with no resolution) what our monthly meetings should be about and how to recruit more members. We spent another entire meeting putting together the calendar for the remaining months of 2009. I don't know if we'll keep the same schedule or not. I learned from Ben a LONG time ago that the push was to merge EMST into CERT. Many, if not most Radio Operators are only interested in working the radios and not being part of CERT. Which is why the push to get CERT members to get amateur radio licenses and their own radios. Very few are members of the local radio club and only a handful in EMST. Irish is taking over EMST and we should know pretty quick what the PTB want and expect, and what they don't want. He certainly is not as familiar or used to working more directly with radio operators. I reserve comment. Dave wants to have radio training classes AT the EOC, as new operators from the CERT group and operators from the Rotary CERT group all need to learn HOW to actually USE the radios, net protocol, NIMS, etc. At the most basic level, we need to know who is doing what, coordinate and communicate! Except for individual mentoring, the Arlington Amateur Radio Club offers nothing to assist new opeartors. Something I've complained about to more than one member. I was told they would. So far they haven't.

I didn't leave the EOC until 2:30. After which I went to eat lunch and on the way home my daughter called me on the cell phone. She never calls me on the cell phone. Could NOT be good. I listened long enough to know it wasn't an emergency. I got to my drive way, called back and sat in car with A/C blasting waiting for shoe to drop. After a few minutes of other discussion I thought, but could not possibly have heard: "he asked me to marry him." "And I said yes." Who and what and who the heck is she talking about? I said "Uh, would you repeat what you just said?" I didn't even know until last weekend she was even dating!! Does it always happen like this?

A good day is one in which I don't sleep through my alarm, don't make an utter fool of myself as I learn how to deal with radios I never use often enough to really learn how to quickly analyze and fix without a lot of guessing and fumbling, the rare cell phone call isn't an emergency, etc. And a really good day when my daughter is excited and happy!!

Wednesday, was a very good day.

Monthly Siren Test

2009-06-30T13:11:00.002-05:00

Got a call from Dave W a few minutes ago asking me if I wanted to be Controller for the siren test tomorrow. Is it already July??? Ben used to send out emails a day or so before to EMST members with specific siren numbers that needed to be checked and those available responded with which ones they could take. With him gone, Matt emailed Dave and Dave called me. Guess we'll have to wing that portion of it until we figure out if anyone else is going to take over that responsibility. There has been a push to get volunteers to check out sirens that are out of the way. Personally, I think City Employees ought to be doing this then calling in the results. But that's my personal opinion. In the meantime, I enjoy being Net Controller.

CERT Continuing Ed - Triage

2009-06-21T20:49:00.007-05:00

Gene Bates, of the Arlington Fire Department, presented a really interesting class on Triage and shared some of his experiences as a First Responder on the 1985 Delta 191 crash. Triage is part of the original CERT training, but this was an excellent refresher. After a 30 minute lecture, the class was divided into Black/Red/Yellow/Green sectors and sent a search & rescue team outside to locate 20 victims (6" hard plastic action figures) with their presentations on strips attached to their little bodies. As in a real situation, the Triage Team of 3 went out first to triage and tag the victims, then the Rescue teams of two hand carried victims to the correct sector for first aid and removal from the scene in accordance with the colored tags. Green (walking wounded) received a victim that was clearly miscategorized, so we uppped him to a yellow and carried him to the proper location. See description of indicators on the tag. In lieu of formal tags, strips of colored plastic can be tied on the victim and, in a pinch, a Magic Marker or pen can be used to write the injury level on the forehead. Triage should take no more than 30 seconds per victim. No first aid is administered unless profuse bleeding or blocked airway, and in those cases only pressure to staunch blood flow and raising the chin to assist in breathing. In the triage stage of an emergency, it gets very basic and likely appears callous and unfeeling. Nothing can be further from the truth. The need is to assess all patients as soon as possible, then remove the most serious to a location where they can be given first aid, if possible, and removed to a hospital ASAP. I hope I never need to use the training.

Changes at the OEM & AARL Field Day

2009-06-20T21:48:00.002-05:00

Ben's last day in Arlington will be the 26th then moves to Austin to take over the position there. At the CERT meeting Thursday evening he revealed that his former Austin boss had called to ask him to apply for the position, which he felt "obligated" to do. Of course he was teasing. I'm sure he absolutely jumped at the chance to return to that department as its head. He is really excited to return to the type of work he most enjoys: helping people. We will all really, really miss him.

For now, Matt Miller will be taking over CERT. The CERT en Espanol is still scheduled for later this summer. The request is that now that we have 179 members that CERT itself take over more of the necessary functions, team creation, etc. He will also take Ben's place as duty officer during after-hour emergency events. The concern is that like many of the OEM personnel, he doesn't even live in Arlington and if he waits until a severe weather WARNING is issued or RACES net called, as happens too often, we radio operators will end up standing in the hall for extended periods waiting for some one to show up and let us in. It's an on-going apparently irreconcilable conundrum.

Irish Hancock, head of the OEM, will be taking over the Emergency Management Support Team. This is interesting in that almost all the original members have long since dropped out, due in most part because it's original function has been greatly changed to the point the group seems to have no current purpose other than to provide radio back up for CERT teams. That in itself is redundant because there's been a big push to get CERT members licensed and with their own radios.

UTA is presently setting up it's own Office of Emergency Management and will be using radio operators as well.

What we REALLY need is for SKYWARN spotters in Arlington to actually get out and spot. The last couple of weeks we've had a couple of non-RACES operators out and about, and one night as the storms moved across Arlington spotters from other cities came over to assist. Not good. Thankfully, turned out to be nothing of import.

With official temps hovering at 98 and 99, and storms staying west, no EOC storm work the past week.

AARL Field Day is Saturday the 27th. The Arlington Club will be at the Yacht Club on W. Arkansas from Saturday until 8am Sunday morning. All are invited to come try out the radios.

What a OEM/EOC Loss!

2009-06-14T07:26:00.008-05:00

When I finally checked email I discovered this email from Ben Patterson, whose interest has been working with the volunteer groups at the Arlington OEM:

"Don't forget we have CERT Con Ed next Thursday. The subject will be TRIAGE and Mr. Gene Bates will be making the presentation. Meeting time is 6:30 at the Fire Training Center. I would like as many people to be there as possible as this is an engaging and valuable class.

"Another reason for me wanting you to be there is for the reason of saying goodbye. As most of you know, disaster recovery is my background and is my passion. I've accepted a position in Austin with the State to oversee the State's disaster recovery program. I will lead a group of 35 great people who will ensure disaster victims get the needed housing assistance and jurisdictions get needed infrastructure assistance to repair bridges, roads and other items they need.

"I know that with this news, many may want to send me warm wishes via e-mail. However, due to me trying to close out many projects, responding to e-mails will only slow me down. Please come next Thursday and we'll talk and share hugs."

Ben left a position in Austin to take the job in Arlington a couple of years ago. Among other things he did there was assist with victim assistance and recovery after the Jarrell tornado. With his email we got a request to complete a survey for CERT re future deployments so that program will definitely continue, but I have real concerns about the viability of EMST (Emergency Management Support Team - made up of amateur radio operators) as Ben seems to have been the only person really interested in what assistance we can give, as well as using operators in the radio room. I sincerely hope I am way off base and that the OEM will continue to recognize the value of having hams and volunteers assist in the EOC during times of emergency. In the mean time, I am really sad to see Ben move on, but move on to a more important position he needs to do. His talents were probably way under-utilized here in Arlington. Besides, I now know who to call in Austin!

All my best wishes, Ben!

Busy Week, Little Sleep

2009-06-13T04:11:00.007-05:00

Busy weather week in North Texas. I've been monitoring storms by TV and amateur radio and typing spotter reports into the Arlington OEM/EOC's online Event Log during recent storms, acting as controller for traffic on Arlington's 147.140 repeater while Dave handled RACES on 146.940, the Tarrant County frequency used for National Weather Service storm spotter activation and in-the-field reports. When Dave isn't around, I serve as the alternate controller for the Arlington EOC and may end up doing that a lot more often as he is busy with Hospital emergency radio throughout several N. Texas counties. While Net Controller I monitor both frequencies and still log as much as I can at the same time, if I'm on my own. Obviously, when my hands are busy transmitting, I'm not logging and then have to do catch-up from quickly scribbled notes. Multiple storms and little sleep in the last 3 days have resulted in some mental confusion, so as best I can remember this morning:

Wednesday afternoon, June 10th: RACES NET - I was at the EOC with Dave from about 6 to 9:30 pm re: the severe storm that dropped a tornado in Flower Mound just NW of DFW airport and heavy rains that dumped several inches over the mid-cities and on Dallas creating significant flash and Trinity River flooding. Jason is this week's duty officer for the OEM. The duty officers receive notice of any activations and come back to the EOC to let us in and do what they need to do for the City of Arlington during such events. Irish Handcock, head of the OEM, arrived a few minutes later because of the tornado warning. On a personal note, I had called my daughter before activation as really bad-looking storms were moving across Parker County to tell her to watch the weather. However, she was on her way from Euless to a soccer game in N Dallas. Discussion about the wisdom of that I won't go into here. At 6, when the tornado warning was issued, I called back as I was heading for the EOC. If the rotation area of that storm continued on its same course it would have passed over or near her location. We kept in touch so I could give her weather updates. Thankfully, she called me shortly after I got to the EOC to tell me the game had been cancelled. I told her to stay put and not drive back into on-coming storm. When she later returned home she discovered high winds had broken 2 large limbs from the big old pine tree in her front yard, partially blocking her street. We had a report of apx 3.5 inches of rain not far from her. The Parks Dept came to clear street and a friend helped remove debris from her yard. Second set of storms rolled through before midnight. RACES activated. Remained a heavy rain event through mid-cities and Net closed at 12:57 am.

THURSDAY, June 11th: ANOTHER set of storms came in about 3. An informal ARES Net was activated at 2:55a, but few spotter's were out and I simply could not get through to verify anyone would be at the EOC. I ended up logging from home. Nickle hail, heavy rain, lots of CG in elongated blog of a storm that primarily affected northern Tarrant and Dallas Counties and the mid-Cities area, then lost strength as it moved southeast out of county. Still, I was up past dawn monitoring as new cells kept developing in the same general area. It turned out that Jason had gone in to the EOC. I must have called various numbers 6 or 7 times and had no luck. I'd barely had any sleep when daughter called at 8 am to report lightening had just hit the transformer in her back yard, traumatizing dogs and killing the power. Over 250,000 lost power Wednesday evening. It was obviously going to be a while before anyone got to her. Euless Park Dept had already removed limb from street. I'd had maybe 2 hours very interrupted sleep (blame my aggressively affectionate siamese who kept head butting my chin) when Dave called around 10 to tell me that spotters had just been activated for SET OF STORMS #4. However, there was a big meeting at the EOC and we would be in the way, even in the Radio Room. I had already opened the Event Log from home when Ben from the EOC called to alert me and asked me if I could do it from here. Yep. It was a heavy rain event again moving primarily through the mid-Cities and into Dallas County. After another SHORT NAP and concerned I couldn't reach daughter and concern about contents of her fridge, I drove across Greenbelt though the Trinity River bottoms. I question the wisdom of putting up the flashing "high water" light in a position where it can not be seen until one turns off Green Oaks on to Green Belt. I was going to go turn around at the corner by the water treatment plant where Greenbelt turns north but cars were already coming from the north so I proceeded cautiously, absolutely ready to turn around if I came to any water. The only spot turned out to be the slight curve where Greenbelt branches about 1/4 mile from Trinity Blvd, the main road taking a slight left turn toward Trinity Blvd and the other continuing straight - now blocked off. I stopped to observe the water and could clearly see that by pulling far right into that paved triangle where the roads divide that there was an inch or less of water where my driver-side tires would roll, and that the rest of triangle was water-free. I'm very aware of "Turn Around, Don't Drown" and was ready to do so had I had not been able to tell it was so shallow and only for about 30 feet. A truck was stopped in that triangle and signaled to me asking if the road was clear to the south beyond that point. Advised he was in the only place where water was in the roadway. Fifteen minutes later, on the way home at dusk, however, I took 157 in an abundance of caution. One thing to drive through an inch of water I could see was that shallow than to risk it having risen in the meantime and not being able to tell.

That was Wednesday and Thursday. Encore finally made it to her house to check out the transformer Friday afternoon. I got a SHORT NAP, then woke at 6pm to find a super cell had developed in Jack County NW of Fort Worth which already had rotating structures in it. Spotters confirmed. Initially super cell was headed toward Tarrant County but took a right turn and went through Palo Pinto and Parker Counties instead, dropping funnels just south of Weatherford and near Rio Vista. I headed out to the EOC when the ARES Net came up to serve as the Arlington EOC Net Controller. Dave was at Hamcom. Dub had come in Thursday night to start learning the logging program. I called and asked him to come in again. Gene had already called the EOC saying he was available when I called to see if he was available, if necessary. However, because storms barely entered Tarrant County his kind offer wasn't needed. Still I was at the EOC from 7:30 til almost 9pm.

I got notice Thursday that the Star Telegram is now following me on Twitter. Whoa.

"Swine" H1N1 Flu / Historic May 5th Hailstorm / Recent Severe weather

2009-05-05T01:25:00.010-05:00

H1N1: Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, was one of the first cities in the country to confirm cases of the H1N1 flu. As a result, all schools are closed until May 11 to help protect children from exposed. Arlington, which borders Fort Worth on the east, has not yet had a confirmed case and schools remain open. The Arlington Office of Emergency Management has been on over-time for more than a week making preparations for deployment of medical personnel and issuance of medications in the event H1N1 becomes a wide-spread pandemic and hospital ER's become overwhelmed. Fort Worth's Mayfest was cancelled the morning it was supposed to open due to flu fears, costing vendors and the City well over $500,000. The new CERT training class scheduled for May has been postponed because of H1N1 preparedness priorities.

Historic Hail Storm: On May 5, 1995 Mayfest was in the path of the worst hail storm in US history, with baseball size (3-1/2 inch) hail slamming into people and property alike. That storm, a rapidly developing HP Supercell with the ugliest boiling yellow-green clouds I've ever seen, is also the most expensive hail storm in history. Almost everyone in Tarrant County, and a good portion of Dallas and other contiguous counties, had no choice but to replace the roof. (As a consequence, some 14 years later we still pay additional Homeowner's premiums, resulting in one of the highgest insurance rates in the country.) Trees were stripped bare, craters covered the ground where the hail hit. etc. Moving east, the same storm caused massive flooding in Dallas. At Mayfest alone 110 people were injured. That none of the 10,000 visitors that night was killed by 3+ inch hail hitting them at 80 miles per hour, was a miracle. The death toll from the storm itself was 14, most drowning victims. My neighbor, at Mayfest that evening, ended up with 2 broken hands as he tried to protect his head from the huge hailstones before he could scramble under his car for protection. His car looked like someone had pummeled it with a sledge hammer, almost flattening roof, hood and trunk and knocking out most of the windows. http://www.stormtrack.org/library/1995/hail.htm

Current Sereve Weather and RACES SKYWARN activations: The past 8 days severe weather has been a major player in this area. The RACES SKYWARN was activated by the National Weather Service on Monday, April 27th due to a Severe Thunderstorm warning. Within minutes of the time we got to the EOC, it was cancelled. On Saturday, May 2nd alone, the NWS issued severe thunderstorm warnings 4 separate times, meaning the RACES SKYWARN Net was activated 4 times. Radio Dave and I were at the EOC a good part of the day - and night. The first set, which moved through about 3:30, developed a micro burst that caused the collapse of the Dallas Cowboy Practice Field "Bubble" with 60 to 70 mph winds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbABlUswsfM) As storms moved out of Tarrant County, the warning was cancelled. However, another set of storms quickly developed and at 4:10 another warning was issued. We left the Emergency Operations Center shortly after 6. After a brief stop to check of my parents, I drove to Euless to visit my daughter. I had only been there 15 minutes when a third set of storms again quickly developed and the EOC was activated again about 7:30 and I rushed back to Arlington. I didn't get home until after 10p.m. I was still wired and up at 3 a.m. when a squall line that had developed over the past 30 minutes was close enough to issue yet another severe thunderstorm warning. The EOC was activated the 4th time in 18 hours. This one had a lot of Cloud to Ground lightening which caused some structure fire damage, but very quickly moved through the area. Nonetheless. I didn't get back home until 4:00a.m. DFW Airport called ground halts several times during the day because of the storms. While Radio Dave monitored and reported to the RACES net through 146.94, I served at Net Controller for Arlington's 147.14 frequency along with logging storm spotter reports into our event log system. The rest of Sunday and Monday were storm free. The forecast for Tuesday is that the cool front that moved through Saturday/Sunday will move back up and through as a warm front triggering more potentially severe weather across North Texas.

Cowboy Statium Disaster/Mass Casualty Drill

2009-04-27T23:05:00.021-05:00

Held on Sunday, April 26th. I've uploaded my photos to my emvolunteer Webshots album.(link on right). Our scenario was that a truck had plowed through a crowd near the entrance, injuring and killing fans. My role was to wander away from the wreck with difficulty breathing and very dizzy. The emergency personnel treated us as if we had really been injured. I can't say enough good things about them. Rather than put it here, I've included information and commentary under the photos on Webshots. There were other disaster scenarios being run inside the Stadium by police and fire departments. Even the Cowboy's Management was amazed at how well the drills went. It was an extremely interesting experience. The only disappointment was that we didn't get to go INSIDE the new stadium. To whet your further curiosity, a sampling of photos:

April 14th CERT meeting - Emergency Communications

2009-04-18T00:56:00.007-05:00

Those of us with ham radios were asked to bring them to the meeting. The first 20 minutes was a discussion on how emergency communications are made and the very specific structure of who reports to whom, how and in what manner. The large group was divided in 1/2. While the first 1/2 practiced with the small city-owned simplex (line-of-sight) radios (pretty much like a walkie-talkie), the rest of us waited outside for 15 or so minutes in some lovely weather. For our turn we appointed a leader to be accompanied by a radio operator to report back to the Net Controller. My radio was not needed. The rest of us divided into 3 small groups, each with its own leader. As it turned out only the small group leader had any need of the simplex radio though in the field other simplex radios would be used by teams of 2 CERT volunteers to report to the small group leader. The exercise scenario: Someone had called 911 to report what sounded like a train coming off the tracks in a specific location and that other emergency personnel were unavailable to investigate and assist. Consequently CERT members were assigned to that location as first responders until official First Responders could get there. From there we had to make it all up as we went along. We were then told there was no train at the location, it had been a tornado. Standing in the hall we pretended to be on site at a house that had a damaged roof, downed power lines, leaking gas, and an unmoving body in the doorway. Of course downed power lines plus leaking gas, not to mention just the use of our radio, would have meant imminent explosion. But that aside, the individual smaller groups took turns making up damage and injury information to be called in by our small group leader to the over-all group leader (located in the main meeting room), who then reported the various small team reports to the Net Controller via his assigned radio operator (who actually just told the instructor at the front of the room.) The ham radios were never used, but would be the vital communication device in a real situation. For those CERT members not already familiar with and experienced in emergency radio communications, I'm sure it was an interesting and helpful exercise. At the end of the meeting, Ben Patterson of the OEM briefly discussed the Full Scale Disaster Drill to be held on the 26th at the new Cowboy Stadium. I signed up to be a victim. I suspect that's the only time I'll ever be inside this MASSIVE construct. I'm taking my camera.

Palm Sunday Past

2009-04-11T02:32:00.007-05:00

In 1987, on the Saturday before another April Palm Sunday, it was in the mid-80's. A cold front blew in over night, and on Palm Sunday we had a VERY rare 6" of snow. The last time we had that much, in fact. It was so moving to sit in the sanctuary, the only light from the wall of windows, listening to the bell choir while huge flakes fell outside and covered the draped Easter cross. A single fluffy cardinal huddled in the holly just outside the window. It's a day and an image I will never forget. The snow, having fallen on warm ground and pavement of course, was all but completely gone by late that day. Still, an inspiring Sunday it gave us all.

New Radio Antenna

2009-04-10T10:17:00.003-05:00

Radio Dave has made me a smaller outside antennae so I can get better reception and make stronger transmissions from my house. I need a couple of 5' metal poles to mount it on top of, plunk those in the ground, then secure the pole with antenna on top it to my eaves. I've already got the necessary coax. Ideally, I need a full radio set-up inside rather than rely on my hand-held "Handy Talkie" ("HT"). However, as I am rarely on the radio, and because of the cost, that is not likely in the near future, if ever. The 15-foot antenna, given to me earlier by another radio member, is still laying in the garage. He was going to come back to help me install it, almost 2 months ago. I need to return it.

EMST Net Control Information

2009-04-10T10:16:00.003-05:00

Last night's EMST meeting involved a presentation about RACES Net Control in an emergency situation. There is a very specific hierarchy of who can transmit along with what and how information is transmitted when the RACES Net is activated during an immediate emergency. ARES Nets (in which anyone with a radio may participate) also require a Net Controller. All radio operators report only to a central radio operator, called Net Control, who determines what information is needed and through which all radio traffic is channeled. Net Control acts much like a traffic cop at a busy intersection, allowing only only transmission through at a time to prevent the confusion of many talking at the same time. Becoming a Net Controller requires specific training and experience. This presentation was an overview. There are 3 progressively more specific and difficult formal training classes, but one is allowed to serve as a Net Controller after completing and passing the tests for the first. There will be an ENCOMM level 1 training class on April 19 and 26. I have considered taking it as there is a slight possibility I might need to take over that function for Arlington in an emergency situation. I have possible conflicts on both days. Currently, another class is scheduled for May or June. I may wait until then. Despite the representation there are ample opportunities to practice during non-emergency situations in order to gain the necessary experience, it appears that most of those continue to be headed by long-time Net Controllers who, from my personal observation and perspective, are unlikely to voluntarily step aside to allow the number of others who would like to and need to gain the necessary experience.

Drought + High Temps + High Winds + Low Humidity = Wildfires

2009-04-10T09:48:00.006-05:00

These are just west and northwest of Fort Worth. Because CERT members work with the Fire Departments in various capacities, such as crowd or traffic control, assisting with triage, minor first aid and other on-scene victim assistance, this situation is something local CERT members area could have been activated to assist with - should the situation have escalated even worse than it already was. Certainly Red Cross would have been involved in post-situation victim assistance.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/Wild-Fires-Rage-West-of-Fort-Worth.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090410/ap_on_re_us/wildfires

WFAA TV (Dallas) report and blog re Wildfires:

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090409_mo_grassfire.bb8634eb.html

Very Late Freeze

2009-04-07T10:28:00.011-05:00

Like the rest of the country, shivering from a very late series of cold fronts & blizzards, DFW had it's second latest freeze this morning. Average last freeze is March 13th. Latest freeze on record is April 14th. This morning it was 30 at my house, heavy frost on my car windshield, and the pansies looked dead - later recovered. UPDATE: officially it only got down to 36 at DFW airport. The NWS does indicate that Arlington, however, dropped down to 30.

Windy Spring Weather

2009-04-03T15:09:00.036-05:00

So far the biggest severe weather problem in my immediate area has been many days of sustained high winds from 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 or 55 mph at times. [Graphic is one of the Japanese symbols for wind.] My beautiful old maple tree, struck by lightening about 6 years ago, has been slowly dying dropping twigs and large branches ever since. In early March, during a night of high winds, a large limb fell into my neighbor's front yard barely missing their house. It's been a given that evenutally the tree had to be taken down, but nostalgia and the desire to retain a prime nesting tree for lots of native birds (along with the ludicrously high cost of tree removal) meant delay as long as possible. Sadly, in the necessary process of removing the tree, I have denied housing to a mated pair of large red-headed woodpeckers, which are not that common in this area. These photos were taken on March 19th:

9:00 a.m.

2:00 p.m. 2:05 p.m. The stump was so depressing, that I turned it into something useful.

The Cowtown - Marathon on February 28th: It was 34 at race start and the winds were howling through downtown Fort Worth straight out of the north at 35+ mph. The RACES coordinator assigned me as radio operator to the Half Marathon Press Van (call sign eventually trimmed down to "Half Press," but without a media representative it was just me and the driver in his warm pick-up truck. We drove out to the Split where racesr divide and those running the Half Marathon head back downtown. After the bulk of the runners had passed, we were asked to follow one of the wheelchair participants back to town, then were sent out to locate the position of the last runners in both the Marathon and Half Marathon. I was back at the RACES Net Control trailer by 11am, long after most of the Marathon Runners had completed the race. It was mid-40's and the wind was still gusting over 40. PHOTO: The Bass Brothers' compound is on the other side of the wall:

TESSA CONFERENCE - March 14th: I didn't make it after all.

SEVERE WEATHER / RACES DEPLOYMENT: I've activated twice in the past 2 weeks to log RACES severe reports at the EOC. In both cases storms did not significantly impact Arlington. The ones on March 30th stayed well north, dumping golfball to baseball size hail on the Texas Motor Speedway (where RACES members are stationed for just such an event) and across the northern portions of Tarrant & Dallas Counties. The RACES Net for this storm seemed somewhat disorganized and as soon as it became clear that the storms would stay well north, I essentially quit logging. A small cell to our southwest moved across southern Arlington with heavy but brief rains. As soon as it moved out of the County, we shut down the OEM/EOC. I got home about 12:30 a.m. Depending on the traffic lights, it takes me 5 to 7 minutes to drive to the OEM. Getting ready takes me a bit longer, so if I'm aware weather is moving in, I'm already watching its progress online and try to get ready ahead of time, just in case. The RACES Net is not activated until and unless the NWS issues a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Tarrant County, at which the RACES Net and various local OEM's and the Arlington EOC also activates. Not a problem during business hours. Most storms, unfortunately, come through here later in the day. RACES members are well aware of predicted storm formation, watch the weather updates and then the storms as they approach from hundreds of miles away. Those doing storm spotting typically deploy before a warning is even issued in order to be in place as storms approach the county. RACES members are also located a some of the local television stations, who do a superb job with weather events, in order to advise on-air meteorologists of spotter reports in real-time.

FIRST WEDNESDAY Siren Tests - March/April: Radio problems with the one on 4th March resulted in the need to switch to the "back-up repeater," which I did not have pre-programmed into my radio. Although I could hear traffic perfectly, it wasn't until just before the end of the 20 or 25 minutes test cycle that I became aware that no one could hear me. Unfounded negative comments were made specifically using my name by a couple of guys speculating on matters that were untrue. It takes a lot to make me angry, but being publically accused as being the culprit for problems I had nothing to do with ... Let's just say I'm reconsidering participation in radio activities if deliberate negative public speculation, which should never have been made an issue on air, even IF they had been correct, are the sort of stuff that goes on.

I did, however, put aside my rare royally PO'd miffedness long enough to participate in the April 1st siren test. Although all the sirens sound (hopefully), only a few can be visually observed each month due to the number of volunteers who do this versus the 49 sirens scattered around the City of Arlington. This month I observed siren #16, which is located on the southwest side of the large UT Arlington Sports Complex. UTA holds its warning tests on the same day just prior to the city test. As I was waiting, I could hear their undulating electronic siren wail as well as the spoken warnings and instructions that are broadcast all over campus.

Volunteer Activities since Christmas

2009-02-23T15:14:00.013-06:00

Jan 7: OEM Siren Test (1st Wednesday of every month) - we physically inspect the siren for signs of tampering and damage, then monitor the siren as it is tested for sound and rotation for both the direct current and battery back-up tests
Jan 8: EMST meeting at the OEM - set schedule (finally) for the rest of the year
Jan 17: Red Cross Shelter Management Training (all day)
Jan 27-28: DFW "ice storm" - it was 19, we had some freezing rain, streets icy overnight til around noon, I stayed inside til they cleared
Jan 31: NWS Skywarn and Advanced Storm Spotter Training (all day) - excellent!!! Sponsored by local NBC Channel 5. Held throughout the state and country. If you have any interest in weather at all, you'll find this very interesting. They expected about 250 to attend. They quit counting at 400 when the registration blanks ran out. Check your local National Weather Service website and look for the Skywarn Logo to find a class near you.
Feb 4: I served as Net Controller for OEM Siren Test (my first opportunity)
Feb 10: Severe Weather moving across Texas dropped a small F1 tornado in Colleyville just west of DFW airport, but still causing hundreds of thousands of $$ in damage; I entered RACES spotter & NWS reports into Arlington's OEM Event Log - from home this time - won't try to do that again for many reasons, one being no battery back-up for my computer & modem
Feb 17 - RACES quarterly dinner at Spring Creek Barbeque - yum!
Feb 19: CERT & EMST Search & Rescue Training at the Fire Training Center taught by fireman who instructs search & rescue to fire department personnel. Indoor lecture and instruction very interesting. Moved to training tower to walk around inside in small groups without the lights on to find way out - was a very short exercise and we primarily stood around doing nothing in the rather chilly wind for well over an hour. The AFD did have several of their specialized units come over for us to inspect: Fire Chief's SUV, Quint (ladder truck that reaches 105 feet from ground), Water Rescue and Hazmat trucks. Interesting. Those trucks are a LOT bigger when you stand right next to them than they look driving down the street

Coming Up:

Feb 28: The Cowtown - Formerly called The Cowtown Marathon; with so many different races being run the same day they've dropped "Marathon" from the name; Apx 70 hams will participate in various locations and positions to assist race officials, ride in Sag Wagons, be present at water stops, etc. Shifts start at 4:30 A.M. I'll find out Thursday where I'll be positioned.
March 14: 9 TESSA (TExas Severe Storm Asso) 2009 National Storm Conference in Colleyville - 9am to 5pm - open free to the public - extremely interesting - I've been 3 times before.
April 2-5: Texas Motor Speedway (for some at least); Because of the vagaries of spring weather in Texas, RACES members are on site to monitor weather conditions and provide radio contact with the NWS regarding watches, warnings and alerts. Pretty much every year something weather related occurs.
April: if there are enough hams interested, I'm going to take an EMCOMM 1 class (Emergency Communications) so that I can serve as a Net Controller during severe weather and other emergency events for RACES. A final test is involved.

A great guy at Arlington Amateur Radio Club has given me 15-foot radio antenna so that I will have much better broadcast ability from home. While I have no problem receiving local repeater reception (a repeater takes a weaker transmission, ups the gain then repeats/broadcasts the signal across a much wider area - overcoming the problems with line-of-sight transmissions) my little hand-held radio (which looks like a clunky early 1990's cell phone) coupled with the fact that I live at the lowest point in the neighborhood, means if I want to talk on the radio from home I generally have to go outside and stand in the drive-way or walk up the street - not ideal during a storm! I didn't know the antenna would be THAT tall. A couple of the men from the AARC are going to come over to help mount it to my eaves or on a pole sitting next to the house. I wonder if it will serve as a lightning rod. I hope not. My 45-foot maple tree, only 15 feet from the house, was struck by lightening a few years ago and has slowly but surely and sadly died, branch by branch and limb by limb, ever since. That was scary enough.

If, per chance, anyone stops by to read my blog, and IF someone has any questions, please post those in the comment section. Thanks for reading.

UPDATE: Damage to Sonnetheil House

2008-12-23T11:11:00.006-06:00

The owner reports that there was 7 feet of water in his 21st @ Seeley neighborhood. Even though his house sits several feet above street level, there was still over a foot of water on the first floor causing damage to: kitchen appliances (to be replaced), rugs & furniture (being cleaned), original parquet flooring (narrow parquet and lathing warped, floors buckled - most likely not salvageable), walls (converted from plaster to sheet rock can be repaired), period wall paper (will need to be replaced), elevator (apparently undamaged), floor tile in first floor bath (damage unknown)outside a/c units (total loss), Carriage House (ground floor kitchen and bedroom to be gutted and replaced). Insurance claim: denied. He had hurricane insurance (damage from wind). The bulk of his damages was caused solely by flooding. Many of the houses in the neighborhood were at or closer to street level and were far more heavily damaged.

Going Silent - OOPS, CHANGED MY MIND

2008-10-11T21:24:00.010-05:00

Don't totally ignore the following previously expressed sentiment - it gets lonely around here. "It appearing that no one is reading this blog, I see no point in continuing it further. Too bad. In the ramble of personal observations there is some real information of interest and importance. I'll not remove the blog because at least the links have merit. If you've stopped by, thank you for your time and interest. If you'd like to leave a comment saying at least you've dropped by, I would appreciate it. One always hopes one hasn't totally wasted one's time."

Post Hurricane Ike

2008-09-20T10:03:00.013-05:00

On Saturday, September 12th I was asked to show up at the EOC to input data regarding evacuees who were already in the 2 then-open shelters in Arlington. I got there about 8:30 and left at 1:30 in the morning. Around noon on Sunday the CERT coordinator called to say Arlington was opening 2 more shelters and to see if I could help register Beaumont evacuees who were in transit from Tyler. Their previous shelter had been an abandoned Wal-Mart crammed with almost 1,500 evacuees, limited rest room facilities, no showers, mold & mildew, an unscreened criminal element and fights aplenty. We were really concerned a second move would be too much for some of them. Instead, many said they felt blessed to get out of there and find themselves in a large Lifestyle Center at Lake Arlington Baptist Church. The first thing many did was shower! And say repeated "Thank You" 's. I am scheduled to volunteer on Monday, provided that a shelter has a need. Some will be open through next week. After that those that are unable to return home will likely be moved to a long-term shelter or find a FEMA approved hotel or motel room. Unfortunately, even if they get free housing for a month, they lose the benefit of free medical care and dinners available at the shelters.

UPDATE on Sonnenfield House: My daughter was told the owner was evacuating ahead of the storm, but when I was looking at the after-Ike satellite photos, I spotted what had to be a red vehicle in the drive way. Unfortunately, he stayed one night too long and woke to find his truck already flooded and ended up having to ride it out. The house sits 6 blocks from The Strand. The Strand was flooded and impassable on Thursday. While the huge storm surge created by winds and a monster-sized storm crashed against the Seawall everyone expected to protect them (to a certain point, anyway), the surge itself flowed into Galveston Bay, around the island and flooded the unprotected harborside - something apparently unexpected, particularly that far in advance of the storm itself. Flooding caused a backup in the storm sewer system and it was bubbling up through the neighborhood storm drains, which caused a good part of the mid-island flooding. Further, the waves crashing against the seawall dumped tons of water on the roadway which then flowed down and into the neighborhoods as well. The first floor of the carriage house (garage with apartment on top) was destroyed. The house, despite sitting up several feet above ground level, had 2' of water in it. Needless to say furniture, carpet, equipment, drapes were all damaged as it had not been moved upstairs. Owner believes since the water went down almost as quickly as it came up, some of that can be salvaged. The original hand-laid parquet flooring buckled from the water in the wood. It can be salvaged and relaid. Wall covering on the first floor will likely have to be replaced. I'm not sure whether current owner replaced the original lathing and plaster with sheet rock when he remodled, but in any event lower portions of the walls will likely have to be cut out and replaced. The house has huge storm shutters. Because the winds were less than expected and it has weathered much higher wind speeds, it is likely none of the glazing nor stained glass was damaged. I have no information what damage was done to the filigree/gingerbread that covers the exterior of the house. One tree fell but missed the house. Owner's wife was somehow able to get on the island on Monday, 9/15, and evacuated owner and 2 neighbor families. He apparently has already returned to the island to assist in debris removal and clean-up.

Link to photos of Sonnetheil House: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/566801016kobbIG

This satellite photo taken 9/17 shows the location of the Sonnentheil House. For a larger image click on the photo. To see a large 1.4MG .jpg of this entire area of Galveston, including part of the Cruise Terminal, The Strand, and with the neighborhood highlighted (Sonnentheil House and Carriage House is lower left):

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2260477070099778304Ucmaec

Link to NOAH with incredible post-Ike satellite photos of the Texas Gulf coast. Double click image for full-size image. These are 3 to almost 4MG's so may take a while to open. Because the photos are angled you will see all white at fist. Scroll down or all the way right to begin viewing the images.

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/IMAGES/ike_c25885932.htm

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-12T12:17:00.012-05:00

Though I'd been expecting to hear something from the Arlington EOC either for assistance with EMST or CERT, no news at all, other than that the National Preparedness Month push at 3 local superstores had been cancelled. I don't believe that any of the Arlington shelters are being activated. Nor have I heard or seen any requests for volunteers from the Red Cross on this side of the Metroplex. There are calls out from Dallas, who has already found it necessary to add 400 beds to it's 1000 bed shelter at the Convention Center, and from Austin. The City of Fort Worth is accepting evacuees. Because of probably flash floods and potential tornados as it moves through this area (depending on where it makes landfall), RACES is on standby. The latest report is that the line has shifted a bit further west putting Tarrant County closer to the center of circulation means a higher liklihood.

Update: Not 10 minutes after I originally posted this I got a call to see if I am available to monitor the Tarrant County Repeater at 146.94 and/or 442.400. I've been listening off and on and haven't heard any traffic, but I understand buses are headed this way. Update: I listened from home and there was essentially no radio traffic. I never was called to go in.

My DD decided 6:30 this morning would be a good time to call and ask if I had a different phone number for her Dad in Houston to offer a safe place. She's been unable to reach him, which is no surprise - long story. She was able to contact a friend who fully rennovated and restored (a lot of his own carpenter's handiwork) the Sonnentheil House, one of the homes that survived the 1900 hurricane. He had already evacuated. Since the Strand (which is already flooding from the harbor side of the island) and the Gulf are each only 4 or 5 blocks in opposite directions from its location on 21st street, with a 20' storm surge it's probably a given that the lower floor of his home is going to be innundated, which will be a horrible shame. The trees have likely weathered far worse winds. If you'd like to see additional photos, including an outstanding stain glass window on the stair landing:

http://community.webshots.com/user/LoneStarStitcher

Debrief on CERT Shelter activities

2008-09-06T10:12:00.007-05:00

Monday, Sept 1st: Gung ho with energetic good intentions and ready to assist, several CERT volunteers rapidly deployed as soon as we got the call to show up at the large Salvation Army facility in Arlington. Living only 5 minutes away, I was the 2nd to show up from CERT about 11:45 noon. Four buses were on their way from some parish south of New Orleans, which would stop in Mesquite for medical attention and to be registered, then sent on to Arlington - or so the story went. In addition to us, there were numerous citizen and other former Salvation Army volunteers. Way too many. The Salvation Army set up cots in their gym for 194 guests. The Guests were to be admitted to the facility through the chapel where they would register, have their ID's checked and be given bracelets to identify them as being an individual allowed to be in the buildings. Following that they were to be taken to the gym where they would be assigned a cot and could take showers. A separate dining room was to feed 50 at a time.

Hours passed and no one knew where the buses even were. In addition to a dozen police officers and some firemen/EMT's, there were news crews from all the major affiliates and a couple of the local channels. One even did a live broadcast at 5. But no Guests had arrived. At 6:30 we were told to stand down and go home. Which is when I discovered I'd locked my keys in the car while juggling McDonald burgers and drinks at lunch. I managed to wave down the last volunteer just before he left the parking lot. He was kind enough to drive me home for the extra set of keys I normally carry in my purse.

I never heard from Tarrant County RACES who had emailed a plea for radio operators to handle shelter communications in the rest of Tarrant County. Arlington decided not to use radio communications after all, but judging by how difficult it was to reach anyone in charge (meaning paid employee) at the Arlington EOC by phone, I think that was a mistake. I would have liked to have been there to see what it is they were doing.

Tuesday: I was up at 6 waiting for email from the Arlington EOC. After 8 I called the CERT coordinator to find out what assistance was needed and was told he would have to call me back because the paid employees were in a meeting. An hour or so later he called to say the buses were in Dallas and soon on their way, and he would let me know. I was thinking maybe an hour. So I did some chores then sat by the phone waiting , and finally just dozed off. When I woke just before noon, I discovered that instead of calling there was yet another email asking who was available. So I called only to find out 2 buses had already arrived and they already had enough CERT volunteers at the Salvation Army. I was told to show up around 4 to relieve them. Ok. I was preparing to leave when I got a call to tell me to wait until 6. I asked about a large church who was expecting 4 buses. I was called back several minutes later and told me to go there instead. When I arrived, I was told I could not enter their shelter area until I had had the Red Cross background check. I showed them my city ID and explained I had already had one. I got a blank stare, so I called the EOC only to find the volunteer coordinator somewhat befuddled and side-tracked. When I was told the background check would only take 2 minutes, I told the EOC volunteer to forget it, Then I discovered background check required personal information typed into a website. As soon as I hit send, I was allowed in to the shelter area. I got an email Friday saying it had been completed and I could view it online. It was, of course clear. I've never even had a traffic ticket. What they are really screening for are persons convicted of crimes against children and violent felons. It was apparent as soon as we walked into the shelter it already had an abundance of volunteers. I asked their shelter manager what specifically I could do. He answered "uhhhhhhh?." So I asked if they really needed additional volunteers. "No." They had in 3 buses and had been told the 4th had already turned around. The coordinator commented he didn't know if they'd even need a shelter more than 1 night. So I left and drove 5 minutes to the Salvation Army to see if anyone needed a break. It was just after 4. There were many people just standing around waiting for something to do. The CERT volunteers had already departed.

As it turned out, my services weren't needed. The shelters closed after 2 nights because all the evacuees were able to go back home. I was disappointed that after all that waiting that I wasn't able to assist anyone, but I grateful that those that needed services were able to return home so quickly.

GRATUITOUS PUPPY UPDATE: Sisal may have found a home - IN QUEBEC!!

Update One year Later: The pups were one year old on April 4th, 2009. They are all still with daughter. With Mom that makes 4 big dogs.

GUSTAV - Tarrant County Shelter Activation

2008-08-30T23:42:00.003-05:00

From Tarrant County RACES with the latest information for this area- received at 11:36 p.m.

At this hour, we have reports on ONE shelter being activated. This shelter was brought online before the 8am expected opening, to receive evacuees that arrived by bus. The rest of the shelters are expected to be ready to open at 8am.
The flights carrying as many as 4100 evacuees are still expected to happen tomorrow.
Additional Buses are expected, with an uncertain number of evacuees.
Current Situation:
RACES Support has been requested for Four Fort Worth City Shelters, the TC Evacuee Hub, and the Fort Worth EOC. We currently have an open need for RADIO Operators for these locations as early as 8am on Sunday 8-31-08. TC RACES will start operations under ARES Mode before 10am on Sunday on the 146.940 repeater. Members do not have to check-in to the net, unless you are offering assistance at that time. Additional Nets\Frequencies will be added as traffic or logistics deem necessary, but 146.940 will we used as the primary net for the duration of our activation.
Anticipated Changes:
While we do not self deploy, we have been told to expect a request for TC RACES support for as many as 8 additional shelters in Tarrant County, and to coordinate\staff with any other participating EOCs.
Action Plan:
If you are able to assist with communications for Shelter Operations or EOC support, at any point in the near future, now is the time to step forward. TC RACES Membership is highly encouraged but not required to provide assistance. At this hour, we believe ARES Mode will be sufficient for the majority of this event.
If you are willing to help and assist, please do not self activate to any of the shelter or other locations. To offer your assistance, please email your information and prepare your go-kit. We will be calling volunteers as soon as we have an assignment available.

With all good intentions / Hurricane Gustav

2008-08-30T21:45:00.025-05:00

My apologies. I had every good intention of keeping this an active up to date blog. Life has a way of ....

MAY SHELTER EXERCISE: In May the City of Arlington had a Shelter Exercise as part of a statewide hurricane preparedness exercise. To my surprise, I was assigned as NET control for radio communications between the field and the Office of Emergency Management. The photo is of me after I set up the radio Go Kit and antennaes on the sidewalk because the Fire Departments new Mobile Command Center had not yet arrived. I'd never done it on my own, but in the past I've worked with the television crew at church, took video production at UTA, and since I know how to set both the VCR and cable converter box clock wasn't any big deal.

Irish Hancock, seated, is head of the Arlington Office of Emergency Management. Fire Chief Silvius, was Incident Commander for the exercise. The AFD MCC has a lot of high tech electronics, ultra high speed internet connections and closed circuit television, and the walls are all white board material for floor to ceiling writing purposes. This was purchased with a grant, from Homeland Security I believe.

The Emergency Medical Unit modules (or pods as they are called) can be located, inflated and equipped with beds, medications and supplies in about 30 minutes. These are used for both triage and minor care only so that only the severely injured are transported to area hospitals so as not to overwhelm emergency rooms. These will be used in a variety of situations, including severe weather events, toxic or biological hazards, etc. The reason these were here was so that assigned hospital staff could get hands on training in erecting the EMU's. This part of the exercise was in conjunction with, but separate from the Shelter Exercise. These are 2 50' long Quonset hut shaped inflatable EMU's that are set up to form a T. It's quite amazing to see these go from roll of white "plastic" to field emergency clinic in such a short time!

Below are just some of the many CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) members who participated and assisted in the Exercise. The particular job of these CERT members was to check in every person and vehicle who arrived on the site, including Police and Fire personnel. Name not on list or no valid ID, no entry. It was our first CERT community exercise, so we were learning as well. I am CERT trained and qualified but because I am a radio operator I end up providing communications while the rest will be assigned particular activities by the Incident Commander as needed. Each person involved was also supposed to check out through them. The obvious purpose is to make sure everyone has safely exited the site. However, on this day in this city park and due to the location of the parking lot off to the side rather than straight down the drive, and the lunch hour having already passed most people walked across the grassy lawn to their cars, and though a few followed the check-out procedure, it's definitely one of those things that needs to be worked on.

The shelter part of the "shelter exercise" was some distance from where I was located inside the Mobile Command unit. I understand it consisted of emptying and inventorying the trailers that carry the shelter supplies. There was some confusion about where the trailers were to park, and one ended up in a different parking lot. It didn't go exactly as planned, but one of the purposes of this exercise was to find out what was done right and what needed better preparation and execution. All in all it was a really interesting morning, and because I had never been a Net Controller before, quite a lesson for me as well. [Net Controller is the radio operator through whom all radio messages are relayed rather that one operator calling another direct. While that can be done, of course, in emergency situations it is critical that all messages be kept on one frequency so that they can be logged and everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Each operator contacts the Net Operator by stating his or her call sign (in situations like these it would be something like Shelter 1, or EMU 2 rather than the individual's radio call sign.) The Net Operator repeats back the call and asks for information, confirms it, then passes it along to wherever it needs to go. This was a fairly low-key exercise, so there was little radio traffic. Which is good since my only prior exposure to Net Control procedures is in participating in the RACES net during severe weather.

SPRING WEATHER:

We had some severe weather later in the spring, but since nothing comes immediately to mind, Arlington missed the worst of it.

RACES:

HURRAY!!! In June I was finally approved as a member of Tarrant County RACES. Some of the more notable things that RACES does is storm spotting in correlation with the National Weather Service, provide communications in emergency situations when non-RACES operators are banned from normal frequencies, provide communication assistance for local events such as Fort Worth's Mayfest, the Cowtown marathon, the Christmas Parade, etc. In Arlington the Arlington Amateur Radio Club and members of the Emergency Management Support Team provide radio communications for more local emergencies, Arlington's long-held and televised 4th of July Parade etc. Next year we'll be involved with the opening of the new Cowboy Stadium, a large Cinco de Mayo celebration, and upcoming in the future are perhaps a Final Four, and certainly the 2011 SUPER BOWL!!

HURRICANE GUSTAV:

As of the day I FINALLY post this, Hurricane Gustav has just crossed Cuba and is entering the Gulf of Mexico. I've already received emails from both Tarrant County RACES and the Arlington Office of Emergency Manage seeking dozens of volunteers for communications between various shelters and OEM's across Tarrant County. Resources, both human and material, are being marshaled and are awaiting deployment as soon as they know where Gustav is most likely to make landfall. The State Office of Emergency Management is coordinating counties and communities so that each can provide the assistance in a preplanned manner. DFW has been assigned 4100 evacuees. 1000 will be housed at the Dallas County Convention Center. The rest will be spread out across the DFW Metroplex. Arlington will have 4 shelters available; 3 run by the Red Cross and 1 by the Salvation Army. We were advised to get our "Go Kits" together (duffles or backpacks with personal items for at least 24 hours, together with radio gear, batteries, etc.), and to stand by for assignment. We expect to start shelter operations Sunday afternoon.

10:57 PM update. I just got an email from the Coordinator for Tarrant County RACES. I'm on his list for the first wave of volunteers. I need to forward a copy to Ben at the Arlington EOC so he can claim me first if he needs to and I can pull my name off Andy's, or at least make sure I don't need to be in 2 places at the same time. Maybe I'd better get some sleep!

But first ONE LAST UPDATE:

PUPPIES:

April 30th - Not quite 4 weeks old:

They will be 5 months old on the 9/4. Officially they are now doglets. Reggie, the gorgeous grey guy, was taken by daughter's next door neighbor who then moved back to California on July 4th with promises of photos and updates. Since she hasn't responded to email nor returned a single phone call, I am sick with the feeling that something happened to him and she just doesn't want us to know. Merida, the white one, will likely go to daughter's childhood friend and her family, though that's the one I would take if I could. Marley & Sisal look like they'll be staying with daughter. They weighed over 30 pounds at 4 months.

Photos taken 8/21. Marley - formerly a brown puff ball is now thin & lanky, loves to run and play, and can stand on her hind legs straighter than any dog I've ever seen. I think she'd be great at agility trials.

Sweet Merida, always the most laid back, and rambunctious Sisal who needs a young and very active family to keep him out of mischief.

** I know there are several errors in the above, left out words, etc. I'm too tired to edit properly. If you'll email or post a comment pointing those out, I'll correct and appreciate the assistance.

More Storms & BIG puppies

2008-04-21T05:21:00.006-05:00

Puppies first - 13 days old. Eyes open. Definitely piglets!

You'd think that the previously described storm would have cleared and stabilized the atmosphere. Nope. Another line of severe storms formed west of Abilene late on the 9th, and we watched them move steadily eastward for next 3+ hours into the Metroplex area, along with high winds, large hail, and various tornado warnings, including a long-lasting tornado vortex signature (TVS) in a cell that kept heading right at Arlington. Moving as fast as 60 mph, the line hit the western edge of the Metroplex about 3 a.m. The OEM has a new policy that delays activation of the EOC (don't you love all the acronyms?) for severe weather until the National Weather Service (NWS) has requested that RACES be activated. Then and only then will a staff member make the determination whether to formally open the EOC (Emergency Operations Center). Previoulsy, RACES radio volunteers had access to the Radio Room and just went to work without direct supervision, not that we have it now, but then some fo them could privately access the EOC and get started before a staff member arrived. New policy requires a staff member to physically open the EOC and be on duty throughout event. This particular occasion RACES wasn't activated until the storms almost to the western Tarrant County line. Moving up to 60 mph, that only gave Arlington a 10 to 15 minute window to activate. Then there was a slight delay in getting that done. I left within 90 seconds of receiving confirmation activation had been authorized, by which time the winds were hitting maybe 35 or 40 and rains were already approaching torrential. Thankfully, I was the only idiot out on the streets at 3:40 a.m. because with lights out along the 2-3/4 mile route I take, I first hit a stretch where water covered the street, hydroplaning for 100 feet or so (thankfully staying in my lane), then didn't realize I was at the major intersection where I needed to turn until I was in the middle of the pitch black intersection all but blinded by torrential rain, suddenly trying to figure out where the heck I was, and knowing it would have been far smarter for me to have stayed at home. Another 45 seconds, and I was safely at my destination. I had my radio with me and was monitoring RACES, but there wasn't a single spotter deployed in Arlington. I waited 10minutes for Dave to get there, then we both waited another 15 for a staff member to make it in, by which time the most serious portion of the storm had long since moved into Dallas County. We lucked out. The mid-cities area of Hurst/Euless/Bedford got hammered. That same cell continued northeast into Dallas and Collin County, dropping a small brief twister and doing major wind damage throughout those counties. Just before I left home, I called waking daughter and told her to get to a safe place immediately! Part of an apt complex roof was blown off only 2 or 3 blocks from her home, and among other wide-spread damage in Dallas & Collin Counties, significant major power line and some structural damage was done within 2 to 6 blocks of my sister's home in northwest Dallas County.

http://www.cityofcarrollton.com/images1/cio/Storm%20Damage%20photos/PowerPole/index.htm

The whole bit about waiting for staff to get back to the OEM after regular business hours before the EOC can be activated in severe weather events just will not work. They know that. What they can do about it is another issue for them to resolve internally and with upper city management. I got 1.3 inches of rain and no other damage this time. The hail on the 8th, however battered all the unprotected cars and roofs, including mine. Not sure if I'll make a claim on my older model car and pocket the $$, or what. As for roof, it's not leaking and in any event, I'm waiting until AFTER the spring storms have abated to even think about it.

April 15th, I went to my first RACES Meet & Greet in Fort Worth and had my picture taken for my ID, assuming my application is okay. After rushing it to the PO on the 31st, the coordinator didn't even pick it up from the post office until the 19th.

Storm April 17th. We knew this huge storm was headed our way as well. In fact, my daughter had a scheduled flight from Minneapolis at 5:15, and I advised her at 4:30 there might be a ground hold because of approaching bad weather that was going to hit about the time she was supposed to land. Unfortunately, her flight left on time. In the meantime, since the storms were approaching during business hours, this time the OEM stayed open. I had a CERT meeting at 6:30 and wondered if they were going to cancel it. Instead I showed up with HT (Handy-Talkie - my hand held radio) in hand and kept monitoring, knowing that RACES was sooner or later going to be activated. As it happened, the scheduled CERT program that evening was to introduce CERT members to severe weather events, radar images and how the EOC reacts. The room was full at the 6:30 start time, about the time the storms hit Parker County, just west of Tarrant County, with TVS, lowering wall clouds, rotating scud, ground-covering golf ball and baseball sized hail, high winds, etc. RACES activated about 7 and Ben, who was giving the CERT program, told me to go on to the EOC. I had to stop by home to get my ID. This time everyone was in place. What delayed Dave and I was that the lap top that I'd been given to use was missing and Dave had to take off 5 precious minutes to move the Go Kit (the portable radio set up) into another cubicle for my use. At first I tried to play catch up on missed radio calls in the Entry Log, but the weather got so bad and so many spotters were out that I gave that up and just summarized and typed in reports in real time. RACES activation means that only those with RACES membership and authorization can use the radios for so long as the RACES NET is activated = FCC rule. The RACES storm spotter is required to give the call sign, wait for the Coordinator to acknowledge their sign and give them permission to report. The report consists of location, then the conditions or even being reported. Example: This is ABC5QR (not a real call sign), Go ahead ABC5QR. I'm at 57L and am watching a wall cloud developing 5 miles to my SE, with rotating scud. Quarter-sized hail." After which the RACES Coordinator generally quickly summarizes an already very brief report. ABC5QR hopefully repeats his call sign (the vast majority of spotters are men). In this case the RACES coordinator will ask for immediate confirmation from anyone else who has a line of sight to confirm a developing wall cloud. At the height of the storm the reports were coming in NON-STOP, the next report starting immediately as the previous one ended. It became a task similar to straight dictation, but with a lot of keystrokes from column to column, and it was quite a challenge to keep up with them all. I got most, location and reported event taking precedent over some of the call signs. Also, from time to time it was necessary to get up and make a verbal report to OEM management. Initially they didn't have my Event Log on screen in the actual Command Center, and figuring out which extension someone would be at at any given moment was more difficult than just getting up and walking 25 feet to tell someone in person. When the Radio Room is completed, this won't be an issue. We'll be just off the main control room and can holler out the door if it comes to that.

Video of April 17 Hail Storms: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5176892715338669042&q=april+17+storms+texas&ei=vsIISP-7NIvqrQK13a2QAQ&hl=en

No comment on the idiots driving around in the middle of it. Real storm chasers make every attempt to AVOID a hail core, if for no other reason than that it frequently preceeds the tornado now unseen behind it.
Arlington lucked out again. The TVS which was headed right down I-30 at us dissipated. Most cities sounded sirens this time because of observed brief tornadoes but primarily due to the large and very dangerous hail. I'm not aware of any large hail hitting Arlington this time. The winds stayed relatively calm and under 65, and the baseball sized hail hit elsewhere, though there were several minutes when it appeared to be headed right at southern Arlington. I got another 1.2 inches of rain. A secondary small storm was moving through as I was leaving the EOC. It was about 9:30 and after almost 3 hours of non-stop adrenalin rush, I really tired. As her 7:45 landing time approached I kept wondering where my daughter was. In fact, that's the last comment I made as I left the EOC. Her cell phone was off, so I knew they had taken off. I'd tried to reach her after the plane should have landed. I called and left a message for her to stay at the airport until the storms passed, and call me when she got in. Well, she did try but my cell phone didn't receive the calls. It so happened that the moment I sat in the car, my cell rang. She was in San Antonio where her flight had finally been diverted after a 2-1/2 hour flight had turned into almost 5 as the plane made repeated attempts to cut in through the storm cells to land at DFW. It was so turbulent, they eventually gave up. Then they had to wait for a new crew, still sitting in the plane in SA. The normally 50 minute flight back to Dallas was just as circuitous, having to fly west out of San Antonio actually into Mexican air space, before they could head back north behind a solid line of storms - which by the stretched from Mexico into and across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, bisecting the country in half. Her flight, which originally left at 5:15 finally landed at 12:59 am. In the meantime, she asked me to go check on her dog and puppies, meaning an additional 40 minutes on the road, 1/2 of it in heavy rain.

Puppies in box unphased and just fine. Mama Dog under bed hiding. EMVolunteer hungry and exhausted. Daughter finally got home just before 2am.

Severe Weather 3 - EOC 1.

In the meantime, my dear sweet Andy, my bichon mix who has been being treated for lymphoma since last June, is nearing the end. Just not a fair juxtaposition with new puppies in the family as well. Or perhaps, very appropriate - Circle of Life and that sort of thing. Just don't expect me to deal rationally nor prosaically with the circumstance of such.

Midnight Hail Storm

2008-04-08T22:52:00.016-05:00

It's right at 11pm. A cold front moved through the area a bit earlier producing various storms along it's SW to NW front. I'm sitting here monitoring the NWS seeking hail reports from the Grapevine area and listening to two or three radio operators reporting from their home locations. A couple more cells have moved into southern Tarrant County and one is headed more or less in my direction. Nothing severe at this point. Tomorrow is forecast for moderate risk of severe storms. NWS is just issuing a severe thurnderstorm warning for that storm moving in my direction, small hail and winds to 60mph. Guess I'm going to be up a while. The NWS notifies radio operators either the same time or a few seconds before the information is sent to radio and television broadcasters around the area. So far my NBC5I warning link hasn't popped up with that severe alert. If this were to develop very quicky and get pretty bad I'd receive a call from the EOC advising me to activate - in other words get my tail down there ASAP.

I went to meet with Gene and Greg this evening at the EOC to discuss the status of the Event Log, and to familiarize Greg with the data entry process. The entry itself is pretty straight forward, but it's the know what needs to be entered and what can be left out that's important, and entering all those still unfamiliar call signs that slows me down on occasion. When the Radio Room is completed, I'll be seated between 2 radio operators typing in info pretty much real time. When I first arrived, early for a change, I walked into a room with several police officers - which I had not anticipated. They were using the EOC as Operations command to oversee Opening Day for the Texas Rangers. At the time they were monitoring traffic leaving the stadium. A bit later it was checking to make sure all the tailgaters had left the premises, and handling reports of a fight and drunks in one of the parking lots. They deployed what I'd call a modern version of a paddy wagon in case of mass arrests (something th ... Ha, the computer alert just sounded - that took about 5 minutes to come up.) The police were trying to avoid mass arrests, but just in case ... Between 6 Flags security, Stadium security and several squad cars with flashing lights the remaining partiers moved home without incident, more or less.

I'm hearing a increasing rumble of the approacing storm and will go watch to see if I get any hail. I hear hail on the roof! -------- Well, that was a bit of a wild ride starting with torential rains with pea-sized hail coming down in sheets, followed by 1-1/4" hail just to wrap up the show. The flowers I just planted over the weeked are shredded.

All the hail in the bowl is a couple of handfuls I scooped up in a 6" square area. Note that the chunk beneath the quarter is half-again as big as it is.

Severe Weather April 3-4 - How about Puppies Instead - Naw, Let's Do Both

2008-04-04T22:51:00.006-05:00

I'd had a call from both Dave and Ben on the 3rd to meet at the EOC to get back up to speed on our Event Log entry program, and find a way to work around current lack of formal radio room. I had a choice of separate cubicle or to share one with Dave, which I opted for. Easier to turn sideways and say "Huh?" rather than call over the cubicle. Mainly the purpose was for me to get used to new set up, new computer, new keyboard, etc. Once I got situated in the corner worked fine, though in a crunch Dave and I couldn't get out at the same time. The most difficulty I have is trying to hear call signs that are rattled off and the speaker already giving a report before my brain has registered call sign enough to get it down. Dave had already set up a separate Go Kit on the desk top with both 200 and 400 band receivers, one set to the Arlington Repeater and the other to the Tarrant County repeater AND my own headset. We spent the rest of the aftenoon with him calling out call signs for me to practice listening to and typing, then me preparing a table to post on the wall of the call signs of local members so I would know who is who, and thus make it easier for me to hear and remember who was reporting. As we were doing that, another OEM employee was in his cubicle directly next to us participating in this area's afternoon's Emergency Manager's Weather Briefing via conference call with the Storm Prediction Center in KC and the NWS in Fort Worth. Seems there was some disagreement as to what we could expect - ranging from large hail, 60 mph winds to same with heavy rainfall and the possibility of tornadoes. The winds had been gusting 20 to 30 all day, with heavy overcast, but at 10pm, the skies were mostly clear.

In the interim my daughter's belated vacation souvenirs began the process of arriving. Expecting to have to be back at the EOC around midnight, I went over at 8 to find her on the phone with emergency vet, coming home to grab a nap at 10. The skies were mostly clear and there was nothing on the radar of any signifcance. She called at 1:43 to annouce 4 puppies, at 1:45 my alarm went off, afther which I spent the rest of the night monitoring severe storms that were up in Denton County, a new cells forming and training east across the Texas Motor Speedway. Thankfully the hail shafts started dumping large hail just east of that venue, a reprieve for all the NASCAR fans. Denton County suffered heavy damage. It didn't even rain at my house. Puppies are fine.

Severe Weather Forecast for April 3rd

2008-04-02T19:17:00.007-05:00

Because of my involvement with the Arlington EOC, I and other volunteers receive weather-related information directly from the OEM to prepare us for significant weather-related events. Normally we get these early in the morning. That I received the following as a "preliminary briefing" before 5:00 p.m. on the day before indicates considerable concern.

*******

From the Arlington Office of Emergency Management

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible tonight. Another active severe weather day also seems to be shaping up for Thursday:

SYNOPSIS - The Storm Prediction Center has placed areas along and north of the I-20 corridor in a moderate risk for severe thunderstorms on Thursday. A slight risk covers our southern counties. Large hail, damaging downbursts, and a few tornadoes are possible, especially in the moderate risk area, Thursday afternoon and evening. Storms will move and spread southeast Thursday night, with the hail and downburst threat continuing.

DISCUSSION - At mid-afternoon Wednesday, a warm front was moving northward into the Temple area. Two vigorous upper level storm systems were to our west...one over the northern Rockies, and one off of the California coast.As we move through Thursday, the warm front will continue through north Texas and into Oklahoma. Warm and moist air will flow north into the area. The upper-level systems will approach the area, with mid and upper level winds increasing. A surface dryline will become established over west Texas, and will move east during the day. A cold front will move southward through Oklahoma as well.Scattered thunderstorms are expected to develop along and ahead of the dryline Thursday afternoon. The atmosphere will be quite unstable, and very strong updrafts will be possible. Deep-layer vertical wind shear will be favorable for organizing the storms, with mid-level rotation. Large hail (perhaps larger than golf balls) and damaging downbursts will be possible from the strongest storms. Storms which can remain isolated, and not merge into clusters or lines, may also find a favorable environment for low-level rotation as well.By Thursday night, the southward-moving cold front should overtake the dryline and move into north Texas. Storms should evolve into a squall line along the front and move south-southeast through the area. The low-level rotation potential should decrease, but the threat for hail and downbursts will continue. Storms should exit our counties late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

BOTTOM LINE - The forecast environment looks fairly similar to what we saw Monday, but the upper-level support should be stronger with this event. Monitor the movement of the dryline and cold front during the day Thursday. Watch for thunderstorm development Thursday afternoon along the front and dryline. Once again, storms may be fairly fast-movers, so teamwork among the spotter groups will be important. Spotter reports of visual storm structure were extremely helpful Monday, and that will be the case Thursday as well. Ground-truth reports will of course be beneficial as well. Monitor the following National Weather Service websites:

http://www.weather.gov/fortworth
(base info)

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/
(Storm Prediction Center)

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/wcm/embrief.htm
(Emergency Managers briefing page)

for the latest information.

First Wednesday Siren Test Cancelled - Tests Explained

2008-04-02T15:04:00.010-05:00

Because of severe weather Monday, and due to heavy overcast today, the Office of Emergency Management cancelled today's siren test, in part due to the ever-present concern some people might fear it was a real weather emergency then become complacent the next time a real one happens, and perhaps frighten the bejeebies out of a few as well.

The city of Arlington holds its siren tests on the First Wednesday of each month. Members of the all volunteer Emergency Management Support Team (EMST) and other radio volunteers proceed to a siren location as directed by the event leader at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The actual flipping of the switch is done by city personnel. At each location all electrical equipment and battery boxes, both on the pole and on the ground, are visually inspected for signs of tampering or other problems, then the volunteer observes and listens to the siren to make sure it is operating properly: 1) making at least 2 full rotations; 2) is loud; 3) is secure and 4) report any other issues that may be of concern. For the first test the siren is activated using the electrical system. Because all sirens do not sound at the same time, there is about a 5-minute wait as all sirens finish sounding. Then the siren is tested a second time using the battery back up. Each volunteer then reports the results via amateur radio to the person in charge of the event as his or her radio call sign is called. On occasion a volunteer might not have a radio available, and the information is phoned in to the EOC instead. The goal is to visually inspect every siren every 3 months. Unfortunately, there are often only a handful of volunteers so not all prioritized sirens (Arlington has 48 sirens) are observed, and cancelling the test because of inclement weather postpones testing.

NOTE: WARNING SIRENS ARE INTENDED TO ALERT THOSE OUTDOORS TO SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. They are not designed nor intended to be heard inside every dwelling or business as a primary alert system. If you can hear a siren with windows closed, A/C, Radio or TV on, the dishwasher running, etc. count yourself fortunate, but don't depend on the siren system as your sole means being alerted to a local emergency. For weather events, purchase a Weather Radio and keep the battery back-up current. For other emergency events, you'll have to depend on Television or Radio, or other mode of communication. That the siren system is only meant to be heard OUTSIDE remains a matter of contention between OEM's and residents who believe the system should be able to warn EVERY one EVERY time. I don't necessarily disagree with this sentiment, but that is not their function. Nor is it likely a siren could be created to be heard by someone running a blow dryer in the bathroom a mile or more away without deafening everyone in between. Another bone of contention between residents and the OEM is with regard to the area-wide sounding of sirens when only a few neighborhoods may be potentially affected. Thus for a tornado cutting across a far corner of the city, those residents miles out of danger get the same siren warning resulting in the inevitable complaints from those not directly affected. There are in fact computer programs and siren systems that are able to target specific areas, but upgrading to the newer systems is expensive. Reverse 911 is a concept whose time and technology is here, making it possible for organizations, businesses, local city and county governments to saturate specified geographical areas with phone alert messages. Unfortunately, the larger the community, the more expensive the install.

March 31st Storms & RACES Activation

2008-04-01T10:19:00.010-05:00

Though thunderstorms, possibly severe, were forecast they were predicted to move into the area in late afternoon. Instead, by 2:00pm storms were developing SW of Fort Worth and a tornado watch was issued about 2:30pm. I have NBC 5 Online's (free download from http://www.nbc5i.com/weather ) weather alert program on my computer. When a Severe Weather alert is issued by the NWS, it beeps and shows the area warnings, among other things. I noted that Tarrant County had been placed under a Tornado watch. I then went to http://www.weatherunderground.com to check local and nexrad radar. It already showed strong storms along with a Tornado Vortex Signature in Johnson County, SW of Tarrant County. I turned on my ham radio just in time to hear the RACES activation alert at 2:30. I called Ben Patterson at the EOC to see if it was being activated and got ready to go. The EOC has been undergoing expansion and renovations for most of the past year and the Radio Room at the EOC Radio Room has not been accessible and thus not operable since last June. Fortunate that we had a bunch of early springs storms and it quieted down after that. and has not been open during recent events - at least those occurring after office hours. About 10 minutes later he called back and I went in. I live close so it's only a 5 or 6 minute trip.. The new EOC is a sight & site to behold, but the new updated Radio Room ... well according to various sources they forgot to order the necessary cable to wire, or they forgot they had to put it out for bids, or it was left until everything else was in place, which it certainly appears to be, Whatever is going on appears to be a sore point for everyone involved. I'm staying out of it. So instead of the new Radio Room that I expected to find, instead Dave and I were given cubicles 20 feet outside the EOC, Dave on a ToGo kit with the antenna leaning against the window overlooking a court yard, and me a couple of cubicles away trying to get the online Event Log to load, then get my password to work, then try to remember from last July or August how it works. Dave was using a headset to monitor the RACES reports. I only had my handheld and was pretty much getting only static. Even when he unplugged his headset, I still couldn't hear well enough 2 cubicles away to do my job, and I don't think anyone was even watching to begin with. Last year it was projected onto a screen for everyone in the Command Room to view. I didn't see it projected anywhere at all this time. This was a serious event, at least for locations SW of us, when a wall cloud dropped around 1515 from the rain-free base and quickly spawned a small tornado, thankfully lasting only briefly and doing little damage in the community of Godley. A couple of RACES members had been reporting critical info and News choppers from at least 2 local stations were broadcasting live from a safe distance. The new large screens in the EOC includes broadcasts from all 4 major local channels, as well as radar and other weather information. With everyone watching TV news, and Dave calling into the other room every so often with critical information, I felt totally extraneous and wonder if they are even going to continue the Event Log process. The storm itself moved rapidly west to east along the Tarrant/Johnson County line, across Burleson & Mansfield, and rapidly losing strength and size. Another cell along a line stretching from south of Burleson up into Denton County. The northern cell moved across Denton and Collin County, also producing a rotating wall cloud and dropping some nickle-size hail, but also quickly died. Weather reports later in the evening suggested they out ran the dry line.

The DFW area has a fascinating micro climate which causes the majority of storms (including those with potential ice and snow) coming in from the SW to NW to diverge and cross the area a few miles north or south of the main I-30 corridor, or to quickly fall apart at the western Tarrant County line. Not always, but often enough that it's pretty typical. On the other hand, a storm that does punch through and travel down I-30 is usually going to be a bad one.

I was out walking my dog at 6:30 this morning when the front blew in with gusts up to maybe 25, and temps that dropped noticeably in just that 10 minutes with temps predicted to stay in the mid-60's today and tomorrow, and a chance of thunderstorms Wednesday and Thursday, when it's supposed to get back up into the 80's. It's a Texas spring and anything can happen.

I was going to mail my app to Tarrant County RACES yesterday, but got out of the EOC too late to check the weight before dropping in to the mail box. Doing so today.

March 29th - SKYWARN Training Today

2008-03-29T05:01:00.009-05:00

Because spring weather is already upon us, and because of events beyond my control last fall, this past week I just got around to checking back with Tarrant County RACES to verify the FEMA Incident Command Courses I needed to be certified. I've wanted to do this for a long time, but as this time of year is the time when most RACES events occur, I put it off. Consequently, this week I have completed both the IS-100 Incident Command and IS-700 NIMS courses. These are available online at no cost, and include a straight-forward posttest that one can d/l and review prior to taking it. A SKYWARN certificate is another matter. I wasn't in town Feb. 3rd when the 8-hour Tarrant County class took place. Instead I went to the TESSA (Texas Severe Storm Association) conference in Colleyville earlier this month. I have a certificate from SKYWARN from 2007 but I can't locate the thing. I'm not sure my TESSA certificate will be sufficient, and because they've changed some of the SKYWARN materials this year, today I'm off to Mansfield for the shortened 3-hour version - first I need to get a nap, having been up all night. Monday I'll mail off the materials and hopefully be quickly approved for certification. EMST & CERT each meet for monthly training sessions. This month EMST met on the 13th at the Channel 11 Fox affiliate station a tour and to meet with weather caster, Christine Kohanek. CERT met the 27th for training on discuss Incident Command structure (just AFTER had completed that FEMA course), and to discuss the upcoming State-Wide disaster drill on April 29th. More on that later. And I need to meet with a couple of people at and about the newly redesigned EOC and my on-going responsibilities. I also need to get a magmount antenna for the car for my radio. I live at the low end of the street in a hilly area, and I'm tired of having to go outside to transmit. Way too dangerous when CTG (cloud to ground) lightening is crashing all around.

The Rest of the Story

2008-03-29T03:21:00.008-05:00

My Adventures in Emergency Management herald back to the early 50’s with "The Wizard of Oz" and legendary local TV weatherman, Harold Taft. Dorothy's tornado absolutely terrified me, and the rest of my childhood and teen years I cowered in the bathroom everytime the clouds turned dark and menacing. My parents watched Harold every night for his hand-drawn weather maps (and me the Sunday night Ready Kilowatt cartoon). But despite Ready, Harold's first-in-the-Southwest television weathercasts sank in. I've had an active interest in weather ever since, even from the bathroom. In 1978 I had just entered grad school at Baylor. It was a particularly a wild and wicked spring in Waco. Coincidentally on May 9th, the 25th anniversary of Waco's 1953 F5, I was standing on our mutual student housing balcony chatting with a neighbor from Cairo (Egypt), who asked "What's the big deal?" After my overly long but instructive exposition on tornado watches v warnings, during which green clouds begin to sink and swirl and the wind started whipping around, he sensibly asked "What does a tornado look like?" With my other ear I'd been listening to the radio weather report, glanced up as hail began to fall, noticed the hard to miss the funnel-shaped something rotating from the bottom of clouds passing not nearly far enough away (only 3 blocks), pointed at it and, instantly absorbing the irony, said "Ah ... actually, like that. Inside - NOW!" The funnel had formed over Robinson 4 or 5 minutes earlier and passed directly across the Baylor campus, briefly touching at the corner of Speight & 5th BEFORE it entered the campus proper, breaking a window at the PO and bending a couple of signs. Thankfully, it pulled right back up missing the business building and law school just across the street (at the time). A few weeks earlier I had introduced my 6-year-old daughter to “The Wizard of Oz” via TV. Watching the tornado scene, perhaps for the first time since I was 5, and I KNEW EXACTLY the source of all my fears. The realization and effect was instantaneous. No more cowering for me! I wanted to meet my nemesis head on! Just not right at my front door. Fast forward 15 years. I met a guy who was part of the Amarillo ABC affiliate storm chasing team. I flew up to go on an official station storm chase with him, using their new van and new somesort of direct uplink - through cell phone, I think. Unfortunately, it was a weekend with a strong cap and not a cloud anywhere within 150 miles. Instead we unloaded the van and watched the weatherman prepare his evening forecast, complete with TWX NWS reports, and barely out of diapers mid-90's computer weather programs. I still found that facinating. Fast forward another 4 or 5. I heard about SKYWARN, went to see what it was about, and learned about RACES. Ham radio?? Uhhh … a couple more 8 hour SKYWARN classes, an all-day TESSA conference, and I finally decided to visit the local radio club. As I walked in the door a man was seeking volunteers for our local EOC. I ended up the only person working in the radio room unable to talk on the radio, but still playing a pivotal role. After an iffy start several months before finally gaining my license, which involved a bruised ribs, I finally took Technician class training last May and at last earned my Tech license in May, 2007 - KE5OOY (just something about that ooooo-eee wasn't gonna work for me, and the fact I kept saying KEY005), consequently a week or so later I applied to have it changed to W5LMC. I figured I could keep up with my initials. Gene loaned me a handheld, subsequently the OEM created the EMST about the same time, and organized the second CERT training class late last summer. I just completed FEMA's IS-100 (Incident Command) and IS-700 (NIMMS), and can now join RACES. I already monitor most severe weather events, even when not reporting to the EOC, and I still want to go storm chasing. But at least now I can report when the RACES Net is activated. Blame it on The Wizard - and a highly refined sense of procrastination.