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Thames Valley ARES - Amateur Radio Emergency Services

Table of Contents (when in doubt, do a control-F search)
ARES Ontario Structure  Thames Valley ARES structure ARES Websites ARES Nets    ARES / RAC /EMO    
Volunteer Roles Committment Training
 related documents What is NTS?
Who Activates ARES? Who do they call? me? How do we activate? Practice callouts ARES Activity

ARES Ontario Structure

Heading up the Ontario section of ARES are:

Bob Gammon is also the EC for Windsor, and has been working closely with ARES in our area

Ontario is divided up into Districts (also known as sectors), which were recently aligned with the areas used by Emergency Measures Ontario (EMO). London is in the Tecumseh District, which includes Middlesex, Huron, Oxford, and Perth Counties. The District Emergency Co-ordinator for Tecumseh is LARC member Brett Gilbank, VE3ZBG

Within the Tecumseh District, there are Emergency Co-ordinators for:
 St. Thomas, Tillsonburg, and Elgin County fall into the St. Clair district, also with LARC member as EC's:
 The LARC members involved as EC's work closely together, and essentially have one ARES leadership team. This team, and the area is serves, are referred to as Thames Valley ARES.

Thames Valley ARES Structure

ARES Steering Committee

Doug Elliott  VA3DAE, London EC
Brett Gilbank  VE3ZBG, Tecumseh DEC
Scott Carter  VE3CGN,  St. Thomas, Tillsonburg, Elgin DEC/EC
Steve Struthers VA3TDZ, Middlesex North and Central EC
Dave Young VE3EAY, Woodstock and Oxford South EC

Core Team (See Volunteer roles)

Kevin Richardson VA3EAR
John Visser VA3MSV
Brian Bouckley VA3ATB
Ruth Dahl   VE3RBO
Shirley McCall  VE3SMN
Mike Watts  VE3ACW

First Wave

Don Laird VA3DWB
Don Watson VE3WDO
Jeff Regan  VE3XJR
John Shields  VE3EGP
Steve Struthers VA3TDZ
Brad Dobo  VE3CNM

ARES Websites

Thames Valley ARES Group http://emergencyteam.ca/ares/
Thames Valley ARES Group's Yahoo Group
 http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/thames-valley-ares/
EMO/ARES http://emoares.org/
RACARESOntario http://racaresontario.ca
ARES reference groups Ottawa  
RAC http://www.rac.ca/fieldorg/racares.htm



ARES Nets


ARES / RAC / EMO

Is ARES part of RAC? No, ARES is an international organization. RAC is the Canadian sponsor of ARES. ARES and RAC work closely together.

Is ARES part of EMO? No, ARES is an international organization. EMO is an Ontario organization. ARES Ontario and EMO work closely together.

Do you have to be a RAC member to be an ARES volunteer? No, but ARES leaders are usually RAC members.


Volunteer Roles

ARES Steering Committee

The steering committee is like a board of directors for Thames Valley ARES. This group decides how ARES will operate, what challenges to take on next, and what to prioritize. Most of of the EC's in the area are part of this group.
 

Core Team

People on the core team are licensed ham operators who are actively prepared to take action when an emergency situation arises. They attend training sessions we provide (subject to scheduling, of course) and participate in practice exercises where we have a simulated emergency. A binder is provided to each member of the core team containing procedures, forms, and documentation needed for emergency operations. These are the people whose skills and equipment we know in advance, and we contact them first when we need to respond quickly to a crisis. Ideally, all our ARES volunteers would be at this level of readiness.

First Wave

Members of the First Wave have registered with ARES London by providing their contact information so they can be called upon in an emergency, if they're available. Although perhaps not able to take part in all training or practice activities, they have made an effort to familiarize themselves with the documentation that is provided on the LARC website. Despite incomplete training, first wave members can make vital contributions in areas where training or prior security clearance isn't essential, or by assisting or relieving core members.


In time of need we expect that every ham will try to help out doing whatever they can on an as needed basis. However, ARES volunteers go beyond this reactionary approach, and take some of the steps outlined above to be better prepared to efficiently help our community in time of need.


Committment

ARES is a volunteer organization of licensed Ham radio operators. All Hams are expected to abide by the rules and regulations that apply to our licenses. There is no formal sign up for an ARES volunteer, and no on-call time or requirement that you be available for ARES activity at any particular time. However,  we expect that ARES volunteers will make every effort to help their fellow Hams and their community if they are able to. It is expected and understood that there will be times when individuals will not be available for any number of reasons.


Training

The Thames Valley ARES leaders work to provide training sessions, and technical documentation so that ARES volunteers will know what is expected of them, and what procedures to follow. The Core Team is expected to attend most training sessions, subject to scheduling. Training sessions are open to the First Wave team, and other interested Hams, subject to prioritized availability. Documentation developed by Thames Valley ARES, or gathered from other sources will generally be available to everyone on the LARC website. This does not apply where there are privacy considerations, such as the phone numbers in the callout list, or member's email addresses.

Regular practice exercises are also part of  ARES training, and a practice takes place on the 3rd Wednesday of every month.

An ARES training session was held on June 7, 2008, and was attended by 13 hams in the Thames Valley ARES Group. The consensus was that it was a productive session, and we may repeat the training for hams in Elgin and Perth counties. For more information, you can download electronic copies of the Training Manual and the Powerpoint presentation

Self-Training:  There are lots of opportunities for ARES volunteers to improve their skills and abilities on their own, including:
The Notes from ARES London training sessions page on this website
The RAC Certified Emergency Co-ordinator programme, with reference material on the RAC website
The ARES and NTS documents in the RAC download documents page
The Emergency Measures Ontario (EMO)  training and tools page
Any of the documents in the following section...


Related documents

Grab and Go List.  Things you may want to have prepared and ready so you can respond quickly to a callout.
Basic Rules For Emergency Operations.  The Do's and Don't's of emergency nets, from the EMO website
Training and General Procedures. Techniques to make emergency nets more effective
June 7 2008 Training Manual  From our Thames Valley ARES training session.
June 7 2008  Training Presentation  From same training session


What is NTS?

The National Traffic System (NTS) is the principal facility for medium to long range traffic. It is organized on the basis of daily operation, in sync with the operating habits of the average radio amateur. In emergencies, NTS is geared to go into continuous operation in accordance with the needs and the extent of the particular emergency. Computer network people might call NTS a "message store and forward" system.


Who Activates ARES?

In a real emergency situation, ARES would be called upon by one of these agencies:

Who do they call? me?

These agencies are provided with a list of 4 people who are the initial contact points for a callout, or a request to standby for a possible callout. The first person on this list is the ARES London Emergency Co-ordinator, Doug Elliott, VA3DAE. The second person is the ARES Tecumseh District Emergency Co-ordinator, Brett Gilbank, VE3ZBG. There are a total of 4 people to make it highly probably that at least one contact can be reached at any time.

If you are looking at this webpage because you need the assistance of ARES for an emergency situation, please contact one of the following people:

Primary Contact
            name: Doug Elliott, VA3DAE
            role: London ARES Emergency Co-ordinator
      home phone: 519-471-8832
      cell phone: 519-670-3503
      work phone: 519-963-4244
    text message: 519-670-3503
      Blackberry: email address image
    home address: 39 Chalfont Road, London, N6H 4Y1


First Backup Contact
            name: Brett Gilbank
            role: Tecumseh District ARES Emergency Co-ordinator
      home phone: 519-668-1185
      cell phone: 519-670-2721
    text message: 519-670-2721


How do we activate?

When a calling agency reaches one of the initial contacts, activation proceeds in 2 steps:
  1. A net controller is selected, and goes on the air immediately to co-ordinate activity, usually on VE3OME, 145.45 MHz
  2. The telephone callout list is initiated, notifying the Core Team and the First Wave Team, and requesting that they join the net.
If you hear of an emergency situation in the London area, perhaps through the media or personal experience, and are wondering if ARES is involved, the best thing to do is to listen in on the VE3OME repeater, 145.450 MHz, and see if there's an ARES net in progress.

In an extended callout, the telephone callout process may be revisited if additional people are needed for relief shifts, or if specific skills or equipment are needed.


Practice callouts


One of the best ways to improve the skills needed for ARES is to use them. Practice callouts, or exercises, or Simulated Emergency Tests (SET) are a way of trying out procedures and finding out what does and doesn't work before there is a real emergency. ARES London has some sort of practice on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, and occasional unscheduled "surprise" callouts. Emergency exercises are sometimes performed in conjunction with one or more of the agencies that might be calling us in a real emergency. Here is a summary of Thames Valley ARES activity

Albany River Flooding

Latest ARES status (in reverse chronological order):

-Wed Apr 30: Dropping water levels on Albany River halt the evacuation. Milverton shelter opening cancelled. St Marys evacuees moved to Stratford, and St Marys shelter released. Focus changes to returning evacuees from Stratford to their homes, ARES support no longer needed, and ARES stands down.

-Tue Apr 29, Red Cross is opening a shelter in Milverton, in addition to the ones in Stratford and St Mary's. Thames Valley ARES supplies some radio operators to support this. (VA3DWB, VE3LOD)

-Mon Apr 28, Stratford/Perth ARES called out by Stratford CEMC to support communications between Red Cross locations in Stratford and St Marys.

-Sun Apr27, 14:30: According to media reports ( Flood evacuations resume in northern Ontario ), evacuations have resumed

-Sun Apr27 08:00: Brett Gilbank VE3ZBG, DEC and Alle Brander VE3CWL, EC, arrive at Stratford to assess and assist.  09:30: Evacuation delayed by weather - Stratford/Perth ARES is standing down. Although the situation continues to be monitored, this is no need for immediate ARES participation.

-Sat Apr26 PM: Evacuation is being hampered by weather limiting aircraft operation. ARES Stratford put on standby.

-Sat Apr26 afternoon: ARES in Stratford area activated by Red Cross Saturday April 26, in support of shelters to house evacuees from Kashechewan and area. Potential shelter locations in Stratford, Mitchell, Milverton, St Marys and Tillsonburg. Estimated evacuee count: 1500. 

Technical Information:

Where's Kashechewan, (pronounced “Kay-setch-che-wan” or “Kash”)? map page   Their weather forecast

Where are the possible shelter locations in our area? click below for maps
     Stratford, Mitchell, Milverton, St Marys and Tillsonburg.      Area map

Stratford Repeaters:
     VE3RFC   145.150
     VE3XMM (Mitchell)  147.285 / 114.8
     VA3LIS (Listowel)  147.120 /114.8 (linked to VE3RFC)
     VE3FCG 444.975+ / 114.8 (IRLP node 2843)

St Marys Repeaters
     VE3???  147.375+ / 114.8
     VE3ZIS  449.525

Stratford Red Cross Building:  (100 Gordon Street),  map page
     Contact: Kelly Ward

Stratford Rotary Complex: (353 McCarthy Road),  map page

St Mary's Pyramid Centre (317 James St South), map page

Perth East Recreation Centre (40 Temperance, Milverton),  map page   directions 

Mitchell and District Community Centre

Media Reports - Mon April 28
/REVISION from Source - Second stage evacuation begins in coastal ...
Infrastructure improvements lessen Kashechewan flooding damage: Ottawa
Air evacuation of northern Ontario reserves to continue
Flood evacuees from northern Ontario arrive in Stratford
Mixed reviews for evacuation effort
CTV.ca | More to be airlifted from flooding Kashechewan
GuelphMercury.com - News - The sad story of Kashechewan

Media Reports - Sun April 27
Sault may not get more flood evacuees
Flood evacuees expected Monday
The City of Stratford - City News
News - CKNX Radio AM920
Flood evacuations resume in northern Ontario
Kashechewan rescue efforts thwarted
Here's how you can help

Media Reports - Sat April 26
Evacuees dumped on SAH: Fratesi; Not told until Friday about James ...
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2008/04/26/5396346-cp.html
Kashechewan faces evacuation
Bad weather, closed airports slows reserve evacuations
Kashechewan evacuated amid flood fears
Canada.com
The Canadian Press

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