Eastern Massachusetts ARES On Stand-By for Monday April 20th 7 AM-7 PM/Boston Marathon Coordination Message

Hello to all..

While this may be a bit off topic for some SKYWARN Spotters, Amateur Radio Operators and Red Cross volunteers, many of which are SKYWARN Spotters, will be involved in the Boston Marathon on Monday April 20th. To reach out to the highest level of Amateur Radio Operators involved in the event, this coordination message is being sent out to the SKYWARN email list. We appreciate everyone’s patience with this message. This is likely to be the only coordination message on the Marathon unless a significant change in the weather forecast occurs. See information below:

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be in Stand-by Mode from Monday April 20th from 7 AM-7 PM for any significant issues outside of the Boston Marathon that may require Amateur Radio Emergency Communications support and for any unexpected issues on the Boston Marathon route. If this message is not updated during the day on Monday, the stand-by mode will expire at 7 PM once marathon activities are completed. With over 300 Amateur Radio Operators staffing the Boston Marathon route, the start line and the finish line, if an issue arises needing Amateur Radio support outside of the Marathon route or an unexpected issue arises in marathon operations, it is important that any ARES members not involved in the marathon can help with any response that is required. The Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net Control Center at the town of Bridgewater EOC will be active to backup any issues at marathon net control and monitor any events within the marathon and outside of the marathon. A second backup to marathon operations will be in Walpole as done in years past.

ARES Stand-By mode means ARES members should monitor the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site for any updates and potential mobilization and have their go-kits ready in case a deployment is required. Do not self-deploy. Please wait feedback from appropriate ARES leadership before deployment and be ready in case deployment is required. In past years for the marathon, no deployment has been required but it is an honor to be prepared in case one is required and good practice for future operations where a stand-by mode becomes an actual deployment as was the case in the December 2008 ice storm.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) UCC (Unified Command Center) at the SEOC (State Emergency Operations Center) will be active for the Boston Marathon. Amateur Radio Operators will be at the SEOC to support backup operations while many agencies will be there performing primary operations for the marathon. A Press Release from MEMA can be seen at the following link:

http://ares.ema.arrl.org/old/local/News_Release_UCC_2009.doc

The weather outlook for the Boston Marathon is one that should be favorable for the runners but a bit cool for the volunteers participating in supporting the marathon. The Weather Forecast across the Boston Marathon is for mostly sunny conditions from morning into a portion of the afternoon followed by increasing cloudiness. There will be a 10-15 MPH breeze with gusts of 20-25 MPH along the route. At this time, rain is expected to hold off until Monday Night with most of the rainfall expected to occur late Monday Night into Tuesday Morning. Temperatures will range from the upper 40s to around 50 degrees. This means that conditions for the runners should be reasonable with an ‘average’ amount of ambulance requests along the route versus some prior years where warmer weather conditions resulted in some of the highest amounts of ambulance requests since Amateur Radio Operators have handled the event.

For Amateur Radio, Red Cross and all other volunteers along the route, it is recommended that you dress in layers for this event so that you can put on or take off clothes as needed for comfort. Be sure to drink liquids and eat properly during the event and that you are self-sufficient so that you can be of a full help to the function and not distract everyone from the main purpose of supporting the runners by having a health issue on your end that can be avoided. Rain is expected to hold off until Monday Evening but it may be wise to bring ‘light’ rain gear in case the rain moves in sooner than expected. It is likely that as the sun is dimmed by increasing clouds conditions may feel cooler than when the day starts and conditions are sunny.

Barring a significant change in the weather forecast, this will be the only coordination message on the Boston Marathon. We appreciate everyone’s support in this event and hope those that volunteer enjoy themselves and feel the self-satisifcation of supporting this historic event and those that are monitoring the Marathon or events outside of the Marathon realize that the monitoring is an important function as well and is a testament to being able to scale other incidents beyond the marathon if required. Thanks to all for their support!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Pager #: (508) 354-3142

Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)

Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)

Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)

Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com

http://ares.ema.arrl.org

http://www.wx1box.org

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