Tyler County Office of Emergency Management

The Tyler County OEM/CERT/SAR volunteer meeting is this Thursday, June 6th at 7pm at our office in Middlebourne. We will be discussing current grants, parades, and trainings. I really need input from the SAR team, especially the canine and equine handlers. We have several new ideas to go over that will involve everyone.

The SAR training went well Saturday. We had 33 participants. The interaction with the National Weather Service was great.

There were 54 students in the communications training this Monday evening! I believe everyone went home with a better understanding about how the systems work. Don did an excellent job of simplifying the very complex radio networks that we use. We would like to schedule another class next quarter focusing on proper use of the radio systems.

I hope to see you Thursday!

Tom

Folks,

There will be a radio operations training this Monday, June 3rd at the Middlebourne Fire Station. The class will start at 7pm. Don Williams will be the instructor.

The training will focus on proper radio techniques for first responders using public service frequencies. If you think you could find yourself operating a radio for the organization you help with, you should try to attend. All responders including fire, law enforcement, EMS, Health Dept., hospital, OEM, CERT, amateur radio operators, and SAR are welcome. Please call or email me if you plan to attend.
Thank you,
Tom Cooper
tjcooper@frontier.com
304-771-3674

Finally! Everything is falling into place for this Saturday’s (June 1^st) Mock Search and Rescue. We just found out this afternoon that we can use theMomentiveEmployeePark. I’ll explain the holdup Saturday.

 As you know, the National Weather Service (NWS) has asked to participate. They have developed extensive plans to assist with the International Boy Scout Jamboree inFayetteCountyWVand would like to work with us to exercise their plan. The NWS will send an IMET specialist meteorologist to our location (our teammate Julia). They will have a team working in the Charleston National Weather Center supporting our event.

 They have asked that we have as many people as possible for the exercise to make it as realistic as possible. They will be working directly with the command staff as well as with the folks in the field. It is important that we have as many K9 handlers and equestrian as possible. The success of the animal handlers depends a lot on reading the weather. This will be a great time to explain to the meteorologists what type of information you need when working the animals.  

 Here’s the plan;

Plant employees will hide 3 life size mannequins in the park.

The gate will be opened Saturday morning at 9.am There is a mobile sign by the gate along Rt 2 south of the plant saying” Momentive Employee Park”

We will start setting up the equipment immediately at9am

The search management team will start handing out task as folks come in at10 am

Dinner will be ready around1pm

The search will continue after dinner until the subjects are all found

If there is time, the meteorologists will give us instructions on the use of our new equipment.

The meteorologists will give us a review of the operation from their perspective

Questions and answers

Pick up and pack up between 3 and5pm

 Please call or email me letting me know you are coming!

Tom Cooper
tjcooper@frontier.com
304-771-3674
304-337-9366
304-771-3674

304-337-9366

I’ve been asked by our Commission to participate in West Virginia’s 150th Birthday Celebration Parade! The parade is in Charleston on June 22. The route will start in front of the Town Center Mall and circle around to the Capitol Complex (1.8 miles). We will take our new marked vehicle. I can haul 5 volunteers. It would be great if we could include our CERT and SAR teams with equestrians and K9s. I must register by May 31.

Middlebourne is having their 200th birthday party the same day, so we will have our other truck in that parade if anyone wants to participate there.

Please call or email me if you can participate in either parade. Thanks!
Tom Cooper
tjcooper@frontier.com
304-771-3674
304-337-9366

Folks,
We are planning a full scale search and rescue exercise for Saturday, June 1st. We will be doing an all-day search. If there are enough people signed up, we may be able to add some other training activities if requested. The location will be announced soon.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has asked to participate. They have developed extensive plans to assist with the International Boy Scout Jamboree in Fayette County WV and would like to work with us to exercise their plan. The NWS will send an IMET specialist meteorologist to our location (probably our teammate Julia). They will have a team working in the Charleston National Weather Center supporting her and our event. We are hoping to test out their new software and our new hardware.

The NWS has asked us to have several teams in the field and a full command staff. It will take several people to support this exercise. All CERT team members are asked to help. I encourage each one of you to consider participating in this first time ever event!

Also, we are setting up a land-nav course for this Thursday evening at the Momentive Park. This is primarily for the new FUNSAR students, but you are all welcome to come out and brush up on your skills. I NEED TO KNOW WHO IS COMING, just in case there is an emergency cancellation. We are going to try to do an evening training each week before the exercise. Please let me know what you want to brush up on.

Tom Cooper
tjcooper@frontier.com
304-771-3674
304-337-9366

Folks,

The May OEM/CERT/SAR Meeting will be this Thursday May 2nd at7PM at the OEM Office in Middlebourne.We will be discussing the next SAR training/exercise. We are looking for a location to do a mock search the weekend of May 18th or 19th.

Please give me your input!

Tom Cooper

tjcooper@frontier.com

304-771-3674

Team,

We finally have a date for our next Search and Rescue training! Saturday, April 13th at 10am we will start a full day of training at the Momentive Park. The park is located just south of Friendly, WV along Rt.2. It will be clearly marked.

We are hoping to make this one of the best trainings we’ve ever had. We will start by setting up the field command equipment inside the training center at the park. From the command center search managers will direct teams, lead by team leaders through several work stations including;
Area Search
Route Search
Equipment check list
Knot tying
Man tracking
Land Navigation

You will notice that these are the primary stations used in the NASAR Tech II evaluation. Team members will be given hands-on training at each station. Each team will also be using radio to communications with command.
We are planning this class to prepare our FUNSAR students for their Tech II test. It will also introduce our new teammates to the techniques we use in SAR events. This will help give our team leaders the experience and confidence they need to successfully lead our teams.

This training should be of interest to everyone including search managers, team leaders, team members, tech support, and team support and NEW members. We believe All of our volunteers will benefit from this training! PLEASE try to attend.
There will be more information coming out on this event.

Feel free to email me at tjcooper@frontier.com.
Tom Cooper

The April OEM/CERT/SAR meeting will be April 11 at 7pm in the Middlebourne OEM office.

Tom

Team,

We are going to move the shelter exercise out a week. Instead of this Thursday we will start the exercise at noon Thursday March 28, 2013 at the Sistersville Fire Hall.

There has been a lot going on around the state in regards to this exercise. It was supposed to be a state-wide full-scale event. As of last week the State had to cancel its involvement. Last night they said that we do not have to do a county full-scale exercise this grant year (2012)! If we continue on with our plans, this will count as our 2013 full-scale. ALSO, the State has gone ahead and approved our funding request for food, vests and signs! They truly are great folks.

Therefore we need a good turnout of volunteers to pull this off. Our basic plan is to setup the shelter in accordance with the last month’s training. Once we get setup we will start “Just-in-time” training for those who have not had the training. So, not only will it be an exercise, it will also be training. We plan to operate until 8pm. This will allow volunteers to come in after work and go through the same training. We will have food at 2pm and 5pm.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Please reply below,

Tom

tjcooper@frontier.com

304-771-3674 cell

304-337-9366 home

I am working with Kenny Harris of Wood Emergency Communications on a communications training for this Sunday afternoon.

The class will cover public service communications and ham radio communications. There will be hands on information available so the students can see how repeaters, antennas, digital radios and packet radio works.

This training will get the beginners started and give further understanding to the experienced operators as well. ALL of our volunteers can benefit from this training!

PLEASE email me directly if you plan to attend.

tjcooper@frontier.com
Thank you,
Tom