Representatives of the US Senate Subcommittee on Science and Technology visited with officials of the Jackson-Madison County Emergency Management Agency, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and officers and members of WTARS and ARES/RACES this afternoon, May 21, 2008.
This visit was part of a "case study methodology" to examine the status of emergency communications, under the auspices of the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Innovation chaired by Senator John F. Kerry.
The preliminary research objectives of this study are to:
1. Determine the primary vulnerabilities to the nation's emergency communications systems used by first responders, and to
2. Assess actions by federal stakeholders to address these vulnerabilities.
The Memphis, Tennessee area and the New Madrid earthquake is one of the scenarios used to illustrate the complexity and challenges of emergency communication among first responders in the event of a catastrophic disaster. They wanted to meet with the some of the people involved in the planning and execution of emergency communications to learn more about communications infrastructure and equipment on-hand to coordinate first response efforts in the event of the earthquake scenario.They spoke with us about the following topics:
1. Emergency communications infrastructure and equipment used by local agencies and Amateur Radio operators, including capabilities, resiliency, and vulnerabilities.
2. Our views on the Federal Communications commission, Department of Homeland Security (including FEMA), and other federal agencies' efforts to support emergency communications systems.
As short notice of this meeting was given us, I would like to thank the following WTARS and
ARES/RACES members (in no particular order) who were able to attend and help make a very impressive presentation to the members of this delegation, as well as Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris:Randy Bennett - KD4RIP
Greg Flannagan - KE4FTA
Chris Wray - KD4MPN
Robert McLaughlin - KI4WKW
Jeremy Blankenship - KI4FYQ
Chris Brazzell - KF4WNB
Scott Pearce - KD4OZT
Bobby Thompson - KI4KVA
Mark Hollomon - KD4MJA (TEMA West Tennessee)
Mike Winslow - KI4LMZ
Thank you and 73,
G. Michael Winslow, President
WTARS
