Simulated hurricane will test communication in county

Published 3:52 pm Thursday, October 9, 2014

This Saturday, the Chilton County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and the Chilton County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) will test communication during a simulated hurricane.

The scenario, which will begin at 8 a.m. and last until noon, will verify emergency procedures and capabilities in the event of a complete power grid and standard communications failure.

The exercise will simulate “Hurricane Nick” affecting Chilton County after receiving an excess of 6 inches of rain and high wind.

Due to the simulated flooding, bridges would be closed across the Coosa River and its branches and creeks, and affect power production from the hydroelectric dams.

“Basically, we want to test our abilities to guarantee communication through these ham radio operators,” said Trip Janney, who is a Chilton County Emergency Coordinator through the radio services. “The exercise, and I do stress it is simply an exercise, will show us what would happen if all the communication was down due to flooding.”

During the exercise, individuals in law enforcement, fire departments, amateur radio operators, and others will work with the simulated test, according to Janney.

“The general public will probably not even know this is going on, unless they happen to be at a police or fire station or near someone with a ham radio on Saturday,” Janney said.

Although he did not have an exact number for how many amateur radio operators there are in Chilton County, Janney said the interest is still present and growing.

“We used to have a very active club with an excess of 50 members,” Janney said. “I would ultimately like to see us meet on a monthly basis. It is a great hobby.”

Chilton County EMA Director Derrick Wright said the purpose of the exercise is to test communication and assess an optional use of radio.

“With the April 2011 tornadoes, it ended up there was a lot of communication done by ham radios, because that was the only thing that would work for a while,” Wright said.

Wright said the “main” location for the exercise will be in the basement of Clanton City Hall and the outside parking lot, but will spread across the county to anyone participating with a ham radio.