Staying ahead of the curve is the name of the game thus far for Ohio TERT. The team arrived last night to their assigned quarters, at a nearby school with other TERT teams. Lights went out at 11PM. The lights came back on for the dispatchers at 05:30 (that’s oh-five-thirty, as in OMG, it’s early) for the entire team to report to the Buncombe County Public Safety Communications Center to get their badges, and receive training from offgoing Bumcombe County personnel. Ohio TERT is working at the center with their counterparts from Florida, Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia. Tomorrow, a 9-person team from Alabama will also join. After receiving training, the dayshift started working in the center, and the nightshift crew returned to quarters to sleep.

We are appreciative and thankful for all of the donations received. These funds helped the team to deliver a significant amount of diapers and formula to Buncombe County personnel and their families, who had run out of such supplies days ago. With the funds received, Johana Gonzales-Sells, Ohio TERT’s resident camp counselor, will be making a 4-hour round trip journey to the nearest big box store every other day to purchase more supplies for Ohio TERT and Bumcombe County personnel.

HAVOC has been programmed to be able to receive non-emergency calls for Bumcombe County at the dispatch positions aboard the unit. If/when the decision is made to utilize this setup, HAVOC will have the ability to act as a primary 311 center to relieve some pressure on the call queue.

Our radio engineers from Ohio MARCS have been likewise getting down to business. Today’s venture saw them working with their North Carolina VIPER counterparts to assist with damage survey and repair at a mountaintop tower site, and working to deploy the Tower on Wheels they brought with them. They have also been provided appropriate Motorola programming credentials to assist with programming of out-of-state radios to work on the VIPER system.

At present, there is power, but no running water.

At tonight’s conference call, Committee Chair Nick DiCicco indicated that the probability of mission extension is very high, even with the multi-state TERT teams already working. Committee personnel back in Ohio have been compiling a tentative roster of personnel who may be able to deploy as TERT-OH-2 to support what is looking to become one of the largest disaster mobilizations so far this century.

Ohio TERT members met this afternoon at the rally point in Cambridge. The deployment team was met by logistics and support personnel, all of whom have been working to get to the point of deployment. Following invocation by Mark Beros of Stop Nine Church of Christ, Committee Chair Nick DiCicco provided an update to the team. At present, Ohio TERT, along with TERT teams from Florida, Kentucky, and Georgia will be assigned to Buncombe County Public Safety Communications. Reports of damage and supply shortages have been numerous, and breathtaking. The expectation is that telecommunications are still impacted, public utilities are compromised, and many routes still impassible. DiCicco instructed the dispatchers on the team to prepare for 12-16 hour shifts, and once initial training is complete, to be working with a 100% TERT crew from Ohio and other states while Buncombe County personnel get a much needed break.

The team also heard words of thanks from Ohio 911 Program Office Coordinator Patrick Brandt and Ohio DAS Deputy Director of First Responder Communications Initiatives Angela Canepa. The team will depart from Cambridge at 6:30 on Tuesday morning, with an Ohio State Highway Patrol escort to the West Virginia state line.

It is believed that the need for TERT personnel will continue beyond the initial 14 day deployment window. Public safety telecommunicators who are interested in deploying in the near term (this would be mid-October through the end of the month) should contact Committee Chair Nick DiCicco at Nick.DiCicco (at) cvdispatch (dot) com .

The team was initially stood down from a potential deployment to Florida, and no sooner had that message been passed than an EMAC request came through from the North Carolina Emergency Management Agency. Helene’s inland impact has been catastrophic in areas of Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. Flash flooding has cut off many areas of several states, and even washed away parts of interstate highways.

Ohio TERT has been assigned to report to Catawba County, North Carolina on Tuesday. The team will rally at Cambridge, Ohio on Monday afternoon. They will receive a briefing and invocation, share a dinner with the support team, and department early Tuesday morning. The team’s make-up for this deployment is (19) personnel, and includes dispatchers, line supervisors, and radio technicians from PSAPs across the state as well as Ohio MARCS. In addition to the personnel, the team is taking Chagrin Valley Dispatch’s Type III field communications unit (callsign HAVOC), a cache of (48) radios, a mobile repeater tower, and various stuffs to support the team.