The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of
licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their
qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the
public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed
amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local
or national organization, is eligible for membership in the
ARES. The only qualification, other than possession of an
Amateur Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve. Because
ARES is an amateur service, only amateurs are eligible for
membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is
desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.
There are
four levels of ARES organization--national, section,
district and local. National emergency coordination
at ARRL Headquarters is under the supervision of the
ARRL Field and Educational Services Manager, who is
responsible for advising all ARES officials
regarding their problems, maintaining contact with
federal government and other national officials
concerned with amateur emergency communications
potential, and in general with carrying out the
League's policies regarding emergency
communications.
At the
section level, the Section Emergency Coordinator
(SEC) is appointed by the Section Manager (SM) (who
is elected by the ARRL members in his or her
section) and works under his/her supervision. In
most sections, the SM delegates to the SEC the
administration of the section emergency plan and the
authority to appoint District Emergency Coordinators
(DECs) and local Emergency Coordinators (ECs). Some
of the ARRL sections with capable SECs are
well-organized. A few have scarcely any organization
at all. It depends almost entirely on who the
section members have put into office as SM and whom
he/she has appointed as SEC.
It
is at the local level where most of the real
emergency organizing gets accomplished, because this
is the level at which most emergencies occur and the
level at which ARES leaders make direct contact with
the ARES member-volunteers and with officials of the
agencies to be served. The local EC is therefore the
key contact in the ARES. The EC is appointed by the
SEC, usually on the recommendation of the DEC.
Depending on how the SEC has set up the section for
administrative purposes, the EC may have
jurisdiction over a small community or a large city,
an entire county or even a group of counties.
Whatever jurisdiction is assigned, the EC is in
charge of all ARES activities in his area, not just
one interest group, one agency, one club or one
band.
|