Draft Training Requirements

(This is a draft of a new registration and training document that I am working on. Comments welcome.)

Draft Training Requirements for San Joaquin County ARES

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service of San Joaquin County is a volunteer group of Ham Radio operations that provide public service and emergency communications in California’s Central Valley.

SJ ARES membership is free and open to all licensed amateurs in San Joaquin County. There are three steps to becomming a member:

1. Please use this electronic form (PDF format) to join. The form can be emailed back to us for processing.
2. ARES members are also asked to sign-up online as Disaster Health Volunteers. Be sure to select “San Joaquin” for your Volunteer affiliation, “non-medical” for your occupation type (unless, of course, you are a medical person) and “radio operator, ham” as your occupatuion. You may select more than one occupation.
3. Once registered as a DHV, ARES members are eligible to become state-certified Disaster Service Workers, by filling out and returning this form.

Emergency Notification

SJ ARES uses an automated telephone emergency notification system for emergency activation. ARES members are automatically signed up for this system, called CAHAN, the California Health Alert Network. Note that CAHAN only works with Internet Explorer.

Disaster Health Volunteers are also added to the DHV notification system.

Both systems notify members using telephone, e-mail, fax, and SMS, as configured by the user. They are, however, used for different types of messages, so it is important to be signed up on both.

Required Training

 

You must complete all of the above registration steps plus at least ICS-100, ICS-200, State of California SEMS, and SJ ARES Introduction to Emergency Communications to be a field responder.

The following are in-person classes:

CPR for the Professional Rescuer (or equivalent)
 First Aid (exact course to be determined)

 State of California SEMS (offered by Tracy CERT, to be taken after ICS-100 and 200, shown below)
 SJ ARES Introduction to Emergency Communications

 

The following classes are offered online and without charge:

American Red Cross “Introduction to Disaster Services” http://www.redcross.org/flash/course01_v01/
ICS-100.a  Introduction to the Incident Command System http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS100a.asp
ICS-200.a  ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS200a.asp
IS-700.a (National Incident Management System, An Introduction) 
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS700a.asp

 IS-800.b (National Response Framework, An Introduction) 
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS800b.asp
 IS-802 (Emergency Support Functions Communications)http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS802.asp

The following classes are optional, but recommended:

IS-1 (Emergency Manager, An Orientation to the Position) http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/is/is1.asp

IS-288 (The Role of Voluntary Agencies in Emergency Management)http://training.fema.gov/EMIweb/IS/is288.asp 

ICS-300 is an in-person course that is highly recommended, but not required

ARRL Emergency Communications Course, Level 1, is offered online and in-person (fee applies)

The following courses are recommended for ARES leadership:

IS-240 (Leadership & Influence) http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is240.asp
IS-241 (Decision Making & Problem Solving) http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is241.asp
IS-244 (Developing and Managing Volunteers) http://training.fema.gov/EMIweb/IS/is244.asp
IS-120.a (An Introduction to Exercises) http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS120A.asp
IS-139 (Exercise Design) http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is139.asp
IS-130 (Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning) http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS130.asp
IS-250 (Emergency Support Function 15, External Affairs)http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS250.asp  (ARRL required for ARES senior managers)
ICS-300 is an optional, but recommended, in-person class for leadership.

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More free online training:

The complete FEMA Independent Study Course List  can be found athttp://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp   

Texas Engineering Extension Service (Texas A&M Univ) offers the following free courses online:

Awareness Level Courses

AWR-160-W Terrorism Awareness for Emergency First Responders

AWR-111-W Emergency Medical Services for WMD Incidents: Basic Concepts

AWR-112-W Public Works for WMD incidents: Basic Concepts

MGT-101 WMD Incident Management/Unified Command, Web-Based

Introduction to SNS and Mass Prophylaxis

Continuing Education Topics

Avian Influenza

Bacilus Anthracis

Botulism

Canine Emergency Medical Care

Children and Nerve Agents

Emergency Management Concerns for the First Responder in Terrorism or Disasters

Medical Effects of Primary Blast Injury