Sandy is a real Bitch - CCAR Deployment

My shift was supposed to start at the Lionville shelter 1700 Monday 10/29/2012. My plan was to leave the house no later than 1600. By the time I actually left it was 1620. I put on the flashers and wigwags and slowly started to make my way down. It was 17 miles, 30min if doing the speed limit according to the GPS. Visibility was OK. Rain was coming down pretty hard. Many vehicles on the road were traveling way too fast for the conditions. One dumbass in a minivan didn't even have ANY lights on.

I got to the Lionville shelter about 8min late. It wasn't too hard to find with GPS but there could have been signs. The signs would make it easier to find for others without GPS and those unfamiliar with the area.

There was already some minor flooding occurring  I didn't run into any major issues except in one spot where there appeared to be a water-main or drainage brake as it crossed rt30. The water seemed to be deep. Several pickup trucks traveling down 30 stopped and were unsure what to do. They didn't want to cross despite having a much higher wheel base than me. I noticed that some of the lawns on 1 side had a decent amount of grade to them and were not yet flooded. No power lines seemed to be down, no obstructions rocks and fences. I shifted to 2nd and took a little detour. Don't think I even tore up any grass.

I parked in the wrong area and walked in through the back where the animals were being kept for the people in the shelter. A sheriffs deputy was also there. He was sure he knew me from somewhere but couldn't place me. Just as well he didn't recognize I was always the guy coming by to talk to his boss and leaving a pile of guns, spare mags, handcuff keys and knives for him to supervise while I go into the secure area.

The deputy took me to the communications center where red cross volunteers and CCAR was staged. KE3HG (Rich) was already there. He was getting some help troubleshooting his NBMS setup from WA3NOA (Jim).

It was nice to catch up with Rich since I haven't really talked to him since the Limerick drill.

Got my yaesu traveling rig with powergate setup and checked in with W3EOC that I was on station. I didn't bring a cookie sheet with me as advised for a ground plane for my antenna but I found some very convenient filing cabinets that did the job.

The school had WiFi so I went online and was looking at the storm tracking maps, pictures of damage and reports. I had trouble accessing some of the sites and pictures but then realized that the school network was filtering me. Would be nice if they disabled filtering so all social and news sites could be reached during emergencies.

I enjoyed a nice warm dinner and chatted with red cross volunteers and returned for the next radio check in. We realyed some questions and info back and forth between red cross and EOC. Things got pretty funny when the EOC asked us how the weather was. Not having any sensors or a weather station it got pretty humorous - "sort of windy but not TOO windy, raining sort of hard". A mobile weather station deployed locally with an APRS link might have been pretty helpful for the county EOC.

Just after 10pm A called me to let me know we had lost power at home. The critical devices switched over to UPS power without incident. Two of the nice rechargeable flashlights failed right off the bat - looks like I need new powercells.

Around 1am we lost power t the facility. The emergency lights came back on almost instantly. The standby genny with a heated oil pan for the diesel oil is pretty nice. We quickly found out there was a problem - the outlets which were supposed to be on backup were not live. The janitor was lucky and quickly found 1 outlet that was on backup power. Lucky because there was a guest at the shelter which needed the electricity for a life critical medical device.

Rich tried to help the janitor look for more outlets on backup power. Rich then started looking through all the wiring diagrams and plans trying to make heads or tails of the situation. He checked ll the electrical panels around the facility looking for the source of the problem. I joined them in looking through the plans and diagrams and testing outlets. It is possible one of the 2 transfer switches didn't kick in but based on what we saw it is more likely there has been some improper and undocumented electrical work done that removed failover capability to many electrical outlets. The county needs to investigate this. If that facility is to be used as a backup facility there needs to be some serious electrical work done.

N3MXB (Guy) arrived to relieve me just after 0500 ending my 12 hour shift. He had some trouble locating the place. The school facilities guy tried to be helpful but like many of his other efforts that evening he was more distracting than helpful.

N3MXB arrived without an antenna for voice. He misunderstood and thought that the antenna being left behind was for voice - in fact only a data antenna was left behind for the next volunteer shift to use.

What Went Right

• The Lionville facility had a backup generator and an oil tank that can last for about 2 days.
• Volunteers!! Everyone stepped up and was helpful and supportive of each other. There was a good spirit of cooperation at the facility.
• The generator kicked in almost immediately and emergency lighting in all hallways and areas came right up.
• There was plenty of hot delicious food.
• My goretex rain suit rocked once again.
• Another volunteer was nice enough to leave behind a car battery charged up and connected to a power supply. When I connected it to my powergate it trickle charged as well and when power went off, the radio switched to the battery without a hickup.

What Could be Improved

• We didn't utilize APRS trackers to monitor our members or watch their progress to and from volunteer assignments  If someone had been hurt and unable to self rescue/call for help that would have been a missed opportunity to help our own.
• Steel toe rubber boots were rather hard to drive in. I couldn't tell how much pressure was being applied to gas or break pedals.
• Information flow - we were sending info to EOC but it would be nice to get info from the briefings. The red cross and deputies kept asking us for updates and we made one-off requests.
• The oil tank had a puncture and was leaking badly only that morning. A patch was placed but there didn't seem to be a lot of confidence in the patch by red cross.
• When power failed the electrical outlets that were supposed to switch over to generator didn't. Only 1 outlet in the whole facility could be located that actually had backup power. Lucky for the person who needed it for their medical device.
• Location - we were deployed at a public school, which was hosting a red cross shelter which means weapons/firearms are illegal. This leaves potential volunteers with a few choices - go unarmed and risk increased danger getting to/from assignment, not volunteer/decline assignment or go with concealed means concealed. If the situation was worse or more uncertain the additional safety that comes from ability to go armed may make a difference between volunteering and passing up volunteering.
• The CCAR has prepacked go kits which seem ideal for this kind of deployment. Might be good to inventory, test them and have them ready for next time. First set of volunteers could grab them from gov services center, and last team to return them after stand down.
• Communications plan - there were no phone #s in the communications plan which would have been nice to. I like to have the cellphone on but not the radio when I drive and it's important to keep a communications link. It would also have been nice to have #s of other volunteers showing up to work with us or to relieve us. Having the # of the person we are relieving would have given us a chance to get the ground truth without tying up the repeater.