Hillsdale NET – Spring 2023

Say hello to Spring. The Hellebors are in bloom. The Hillsdale Farmers Market will be open weekly beginning April 16. Folks are showing up at Les Schwab to remove studded tires (March 31 deadline). We of Hillsdale NET are looking forward to seeing our friends and neighbors emerge from hibernation and taking to the streets, the trails, the parks and, hopefully, to the volunteer activities they so much support.

 

Do you know about BEECN ?

BEECNs or Basic Earthquake Emergency Communication Nodes are places to go in Portland after a major earthquake, to ask for emergency assistance if telephone service is down or report severe damage or injury.  There are 48 BEECN sites around Portlland. BEECN sites are staffed by volunteers. At least two volunteers staff each site. While they are there to answer questions their primary role is to forward requests for emergency assistance. If someone walks up and reports a building on fire or a severely injured person with active bleeding the BEECN volunteer forwards that information to an Amateur Radio Operator (HAM radio) who will forward the request to a centralized Emergency Communications Center that then will dispatch first responders if they are available.

There are two caveats for the person requesting help. In the event of a major disaster in Portland our first responders will almost certainly be overwhelmed with requests for help. Normal response times one expects when calling 911 will definitely not be met. And, for that reason, the BEECN volunteer cannot and will not give the requestor any estimate of when to expect help.  Trust that the request was forwarded to the Emergency Communications Center. Do not submit more than one request for the same fire or injured person.

 

 

The Hillsdale BEECN “red tent” will be set up on the playing field at Ida B Wells High School. Anywhere in Portland you may go to https://www.publicalerts.org/beecn-embed-map to find the location of your nearest BEECN. We assume Hillsdale BEECN will be open for requests from 7am until 11pm (two shifts) each day after a disaster subject to volunteer availability. The assumption of Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (our authority) is that the nodes shall be opened no more than 24 to 48 hours after disaster strikes. The Hillsdale BEECN volunteers will do our best to set up and accept requests from Hillsdale residents sooner than that but cannot promise anything without the support of dedicated, active volunteers.

At this time, Hillsdale BEECN does not have enough volunteers to staff our node. The absolute minimum number of people required to staff the node each day for 16 hours (two shifts) is 6, of which two must be licensed AROs (also known as HAM radio operators). With the goal of staffing Hillsdale BEECN, the current BEECN volunteers teamed up with Hillsdale NET to draw volunteer support.  But Hillsdale BEECN needs more volunteers. How can YOU help ?

Become a BEECN volunteer.

To do so, start at this link https://www.portland.gov/pbem/about-beecn. When you apply for training, please be sure to notify the trainer if you are a licensed HAM radio operator !

After you have completed training, be sure to notify the Hillsdale NET. Drop us an email at hillsdaleornet@gmail.com .

 

February virtual disaster drill

With a dusting of snow on the ground and NET volunteers nestled snug in their homes we did a virtual disaster drill. The purpose of the drill was to see how we organize and staff our incident command center and to see what we can accomplish in the first few hours of a disaster.

The drill commenced at 7am with the earth shaking. Participants in the drill shared what actions they might take before they were ready to deploy to our staging area. They checked on the condition of themselves, others in their homes including pets, the condition of their home (safe to stay ?) and pull out urgently needed supplies. Some checked on their neighbors. Some turned on their radios to 91.5 FM for news updates. Some called their out-of-state contacts to report that they were safe and sound. All did what they could to make their families comfortable before deploying. The drill moderator told one NET that her husband had a lacerated ankle from broken glass. Another was told she smelled gas when she surveyed her home. Both of them remedied the situations and prepared for deployment.

At 0740 the deployment notification came from Incident Command Center.  Liz was the first one to arrive at our staging area so she assumed the role of Incident Team Leader. A woman Liz did not know saw her in the NET vest and hard-hat, approached her and asked if there was anything she could do to help. She and Liz began setting up the command tent. Liz also asked her to do intake documentation of any others who come to volunteer. As the drill progressed a total of 5 Hillsdale NETs arrived in the first two hours. As they arrived they reported what damages and/or injuries they noted on their way to the staging area. A total of four people previously unknown to us showed up to help out any way they could. These individuals we call Spontaneous Unaffiliated Volunteers (SUVs). In total we had 9 people staffing the staging area.

In that couple of hours we set up the command tent, recruited and oriented SUVs, commenced the required documentation and began planning for first aid/medical care if and when casualties were identified. One strike team was formed and sent out to clear some smaller trees down on a major road.

Lessons learned were:

Not everyone shows up 5 minutes after the earth shakes.

Staff what you can with the folks you have. You cannot staff certain missions such as radio contact, medical treatment area, etc. until the skilled people show up to assume those duties.

Rely on your whole team to decide priorities and make assignments.

Do the most good for the most people with the resources you have at hand.

Any action taken is a good one if it helps somebody.

 

Those who participated enjoyed the experience and we all learned a few things. We will be doing similar “staffing drills” a few times a year.