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| EMARC (Emergency Management
Amateur Radio Communications) was organized in Gila County, Arizona to combine
membership in the trilogy of Amateur Radio Emergency Communications; ARES, SKYWARN and
RACES. Membership is open to licensed amateurs interested in any of the
three. Some want to participate only in SKYWARN, others in ARES, some only in RACES. Many members are active in all three. In addition, membership is also open for those in the community that are not licensed radio amateurs. These serve as record keepers, message runners and in general, a support group. Their communications medium during an emergency incident is done on GMRS/FRS frequencies. Many times, when a local disaster incident occurs, the ARES part of EMARC is activated by the local fire dept. If the incident escalates to the point that the Gila County Department of Emergency Services is activated, local communications to hospitals, shelters, and traffic control centers are maintained by ARES operators with a RACES operator on a RACES frequency in contact with Government Agencies involved in the incident. If weather is a factor in the incident, yet another EMARC operator will be in contact with the local NWS office on a SKYWARN frequency. Chuck Heron, KD7BWG Gila County DEC/ARES Director: Gila County EMARC chuck@emarc.net |
