Overview
Emergency Preparedness is one of the basic tenets of the Emergency Management cycle. Since we do not have the luxury of knowing what will happen tomorrow we need to be somewhat broad in our preparations for a potential emergency. There are tools that may be used to concentrate our energies however. One of the most important things that can be done to focus the preparedness effort is to conduct a Hazard Analysis. A Hazard Analysis studies local conditions in order to project the disaster scenarios that are most likely to occur. For example California has a much greater likelihood of experiencing wildfires or earthquakes than would be the case in Northern Ohio. In Cuyahoga County flooding is one of the most common problems. Tornadoes have caused considerable damage as well.
The potential losses in life safety and economic terms also need to be weighed in relation to the probability of the hazard in question. Significant snowfall in winter has a very high potential but it is unlikely to cause loss of life or a major economic impact. Therefore it would not be wise to spend a large amount on preparation for winter storms.
Probably the largest recurring loss in Cuyahoga County can be attributed to flooding. Due to our wet climate in Northern Ohio we can be reasonably sure we will be dealing with the effects of excess precipitation for the foreseeable future. Because of this fact ICC (Increased Cost of Compliance) funds are currently being used to reduce the damage that is frequently experienced by local residents. Currently houses are being raised to bring the main dwelling area above the expected flood level.
Evacuation Plan
Emergency Preparedness Links
Mobile One
History
Cuyahoga County is made up of 59 separate and autonomous communities. Virtually all of these communities have their own public safety forces. This has led to the establishment of a very large number of separate radio communications systems. Hundreds of radio frequencies in multiple bands are in use daily within the County. The result of these non-coordinated systems has been that small groups of communities have banded together to share some frequencies and provide mutual aid to their neighbors. When called upon to respond outside of these small groups however most police and fire departments lack adequate shared communications frequencies to communicate with each other. It was suggested that a mobile communications platform could be a valuable asset to provide a solution to this problem. In 1992 A Winnebago Motorhome was procured and equipped with communications gear to fulfill just such a need.
Capabilities and Equipment
Mobile One is a 28' Winnebago Sunflyer motorhome equipped with 2-way radios, cell phones, fax machine, copier, video recorders, video camera and other related equipment. Its mission is to serve as a mobile command/communications center. It is available to any public safety agency in Cuyahoga County that has a signed cooperative agreement on file with the Division of Emergency Services.
Mobile One is housed at the Euclid Fire Department, Station 2 and is available for use in emergencies on a 24-hour basis. To gain accesses to the vehicle in an emergency call the CECOMS center at (216) 771-1363 at any time day or night. The CECOMS operators will contact Euclid FD personnel who will arrange to have Mobile One driven to the scene. The requesting agency will need to make arrangements to return the driver to Euclid.
Mobile One's communications section contains two operator positions that can be used independently of one another. Radios are arranged in two groups and cover VHF Hi/Lo, UHF and 800 MHz including 3 MARCS radios. All radios except the 4 Midland units are capable of P25 digital and narrow band operation. Operators have the option to use either a built in microphone/speaker arrangement or a headphone/boom microphone arrangement. This second option provides a method to reduce interference and increase privacy between adjacent operators during communications. Each position also has a cellular phone. The rear (communications) section of the vehicle can be closed off from the front (command) section to allow the two functions to coexist without interfering with each other.
The vehicle is equipped with 15 420 MHz portable radios and 12 800 MHz (MARCS) portable radios that can be used for on-scene communications or through the use of existing repeaters can also be used to communicate with other units on an area-wide basis. Mobile One carries two separate systems to enable cross-platform communication: The first system is the integrated NCS radio controllers. These controllers can select multiple radios to be patched together to form a virtual repeater. The second system is the Incident Command Radio Interface or ICRI. This unit can with the correct cables patch two or more portable radios and/or cell phones into a repeater network. This unit is also portable and can be deployed to another location independent of the vehicle.
Mobile One carries an air operated radio mast. Mounted on top of this mast is a broadcast quality video camera that can be used to record scene events. The camera has full zoom and pan capabilities. A list of equipment on board follows.
Mobile One Equipment List