Individuals who have read the By-Laws of WCEC and WCEC’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and who agree with the Mission Statement and are interested in Public Service Emergency Communications and who wish to join WCEC should fill out an application for membership and bring it to a regular meeting of Wood County Emergency Communications. Meetings are held at 7:00PM on the first Tuesday of each month at the Cedar Grove United Methodist Church on Rt. 47 across from the WV Police Barracks.
Applicants should arrive 30 minutes before the meeting to submit their application to the Director for review. There are no membership fees, however members are required to abide by the bylaws, develop cretin communications skills and participate in training activities and classes as dictated by the Director and Assistant Director.
Applicants will need to authorize a background check for membership approval and individuals under the age of 18 will be required to present a signed Parental Authorization form. Wood County Emergency Communications inc. protects all information presented to it for membership purposes and does not share this information with anyone else for any reason other than a background investigation.
Types of Training
Training consists of classroom instruction as well as practical exercises in real-time communications under varied conditions. This includes Voice and Digital communication modes. Members are encouraged to keep track of training hours on a yearly basis. Training Hours Form
Activities such as Road Runs & Walks, Cross Country Races, and Mountain Bicycle Races rely on Amateur Radio operators to provide their communications needs.
Providing communications during Disaster Drills and Exercises give us the opportunity to test out our emergency communications procedures and equipment, and make personal contact with City, County, and State Officials that we may have to work with in a real disaster or emergency.
Just in Time Disaster Training Libary
The purpose of this on-line video library is to provide a single, easy to search source in which individuals, agencies and organizations can access Just In Time Disaster Training videos. The videos found in this library cover disaster related mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery training for a wide variety areas.
ARES Field Resources Manual Available
A Quick Training and Field Resource Guide for the Emergency Communicator is available in Adobe pdf format. This is a must read for every Amateur who expects to be deployed in the field for emergency services work. Based primarily on ARES operations, these principles can be adapted by any local group or agency.
This paper contains a number of templates that can be adapted to your locality and situation. A great resource for any Communicator.
National Incident Management System (NIMS)
Protocols embraced by WCEC volunteers include the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides a consistent nationwide template to enable federal, state and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work together to protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents.
The Emergency Management Institute has a curricula of courses that meet the requirements specified in the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Members of WCEC should be certified in the following NIMS compliant courses:
- IS-100.C: Introduction to Incident Command System
- ICS-100 IS-200.C: ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
- IS-242.C: Effective Communication
- IS-700.B: National Incident Management System (NIMS) An Introduction
- IS-800.D: National Response Framework, An Introduction
- IS-802: Emergency Support Functions (ESF) #2 – Communications