TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
ALL NON-WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED
WOOD COUNTY BULLETIN NR 15.23 DATE: June 7, 2015
SUBJECT: THE NEED FOR REGISTRATION
For every Public Safety function, or problem, there is a Government agency charged with the primary response, control, and mitigation. Some agencies use volunteers on a regular basis, and others do not. Such regular or professional volunteers are generally expected to meet certain qualifications prior to acceptance and enrollment.
Skilled volunteers, properly trained and registered, are a part of, and support a specific Public agency. Public agencies do not take kindly to unregistered volunteers showing up at an emergency. By the same token, properly registered volunteers do not self-dispatch themselves, they respond by authorization from a competent authority.
One of the prerequisites in West Virginia for a volunteer to serve a Public agency is to first become a registered Emergency Services Worker in accordance with West Virginia State Code: Chapter 15, Article 5. Just being registered may not be enough in some counties before you are asked to register and participate. You may also have to complete additional training and Emergency Management courses. Some of these courses are Independent Study (IS) 100, 200, 700, and 800. All of these courses are available on the Internet. You can find these courses by connecting to the WCEC website: www.wc8ec.com or www.wc8ec.org
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV