THIS MEETING WILL BE ZOOM ONLY
Our speakers this month are Fredrick (Rick) DeTar from the Palm Beach County Division of Emergency Management and Dolph Holmes WA2NTW
Rick DeTar is the Emergency Program Coordinator for the Palm Beach County (PBC) Division of Emergency Management – Public Safety Department and along with his other responsibilities Coordinates the Community Emergency Response (CERT) Program, is located at the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
His team coordinates the FEMA based CERT Basic Training Classes through Grants originated from FEMA, provide ongoing training and exercises for the participating CERT Teams, chairs quarterly meetings at the EOC for the CERT Team Leaders and provides the overall support for the CERT Program.
His office provides the frequency coordination for the 6 Emergency Operation Areas (EOAs) in Palm Beach County, maintains the Amateur Radio station at the EOC and runs the Captive AUXCOMM Program at the EOC to provide communications support across Palm Beach County and at the Shelters during Emergencies.
Dolph Holmes has been an Amateur Radio Operator since 1972 and is an Amateur Radio Instructor Teaching Classes and participating in the Licensing Exams.
He has been a CERT Instructor since 2003 and has been providing the PBC Division of Emergency Management with the CERT Basic Training Classes and hosting other related classes across the Country.
He is a CERT Program Manager an Incident Command System Instructor as well as a former ICS Team Member and an Incident Management Assistance Team Member.
The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the CERT Program to our Amateur Radio Community, and to highlight the importance of coordinating and practicing emergency communications during disasters. The program needs more active and trained Hams to participate during emergencies with communications between the Amateur Radio Operators in various CERT communities and the EOC. Amateur Radio Operators have long been relied upon to provide communications during emergencies, so the intent of this program is to insure we are well coordinated in order to utilize our skills most effectively.
