The Church respects and may defer to civil authorities and their response efforts in an emergency, but Church leaders may also take independent action on behalf of Church members. Ward and stake councils have responsibility to account for all persons in the boundaries of the wards and to help with life-threatening circumstances.
Using Newton 1st Ward as an example, this will be accomplished by completing an assessment of the homes in the ward boundary. The ward has been sectioned into smaller groups of homes, generally close in proximity to each other. While Fire and EMS personnel will be active across the community handling the situations requiring their expertise, ward members will be assigned to the sections, making contact with each residence to account for the occupants and to assess damage to homes and infrastructure.
The persons completing these assessments may encounter life safety situations that require immediate intervention. If communications systems are operating as usual, a cell phone call to the town’s command post will alert the emergency managers of critical needs, but what will we do if the event has disrupted normal communications?
When planning for an emergency response, It is important to identify backup communications systems to use during an emergency, and develop those resources as much as possible. While amateur radio offers a significant advantage with its voice and data communications capability, the reality is there may not be enough licensed amateur radio operators available in each community.
With that in mind, tonight we will discuss how Family Radio Service and GMRS can contribute to the success of an emergency response, again using Newton as an example.
Each ward in Newton has a licensed radio operator assigned for emergency communications, and there are several other licensed radio operators in each ward, but still there would not be enough for one radio operator to accompany each damage assessment team.
It can take time to recruit more persons who are willing to study for and take the amateur radio license exam. In the interim it would be wise to consider the Family Radio Service and General Mobile Radio Services as a means to bolster emergency communications during an emergency response.
The Family Radio Service (FRS) is a two-way, short-distance communications service for facilitating family and group activities. The service is licensed-by-rule so the general public can use the devices without having to obtain a license. FRS radios are limited to a maximum transmit power of 2 watts, or less, depending on which of the frequencies available to the service are used.
The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a licensed radio service using the same frequency range as FRS, but the licensing procedure does not include a license examination. A GMRS license is valid for the immediate family members of the licensee, offering higher transmit power compared to FRS. Similar to amateur radio, it offers the use of repeaters. In the Cache Valley area there are several repeaters available allowing for extended range of communication.
Even though FRS radios are limited in their transmit power, they could help the teams working closest to the command post of each ward relay critical information back and forth using that service, while the licensed amateur radio or GMRS operators can accompany the teams working the more distant portions of the community.
The area covered by this radio net has two FRS available for use, and any GMRS license holders in our area have been assigned to use the Mt Logan GMRS repeater. The P.A.C.E. Plan found in the Benson Stake Emergency Communications Plan details these frequency assignments. If you need these frequencies please let me know.
Another consideration is that the Benson Stake encompasses a fair amount of geography. FRS radios will not cover the distance between the communities of the Stake. Using one of the GMRS repeaters would allow voice communications between the ward buildings and the stake, so long as a GMRS licensed operator is present at each building, but this service does not allow sending data the way amateur radio does.
For communications between the wards and the Stake, or from a city to the county EOC, it is recommended to staff each command post with an amateur operator, preferably with Winlink capability. The ability to send messages by Winlink frees up the voice channels for teams with life safety traffic, instead of operators reading and copying damage reports line by line.