What is it about barricades?

Yesterday, the ARES/RACES members of the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club held our SET, which coincided with a South Plainfield Volunteer Fire Department Drill. We were "activated" by the South Plainfield Office of Emergency Management to set up an On Site Command Post, provide security for that Command Post and to also assist with traffic and pedestrian control, as well as provide back up communications in the event that unforeseen circumstances developed.

The scenario involved the SPVFD having to put out a blaze at a propane sales and storage facility in town. While there was not an actual fire, the organizers of the event placed some dry ice in water in various places, to create the illusion of a smoky blaze. There were actors on scene to simulate wounded employees and even a belligerent employee who refused to evacuate. 

On Site Command Post (photo courtesy of SPVFD)

SPVFD Pumper

SPVFD member doing his thing (photo courtesy of SPVFD)

CERT members on traffic control duty (photo courtesy of SPVFD)

Yours truly, for a moment taking his eyes off the cars that want to cream him. (photo courtesy of Marv K2VHW)

Marv K2VHW as our CERT trailer arrives on scene

I was on duty with Marv K2VHW and our assignment was to signal to drivers that they could not drive down South Clinton Avenue - where the drill was taking place. As you can see from the photos, there were plenty of barricades, but that did not stop umpteen drivers trying to make the turn onto the street where all this was going down.

What is it about barricades? What is it that seems to signal to drivers, "OK, I get it, the road is closed .......but certainly you don't mean that it's closed to me !?!?!?!?!?!" After a while, it actually got kind of comical. But there were enough drivers trying to go where they couldn't to keep Marv and I busy for the four hours that the drill lasted. 99% of the people were cooperative, but there were a couple of times we had to call upon the South Plainfield Police Dept. officer on duty so that he could more adamantly explain things. That blue uniform (and gun) always seems to carry more weight than citizen volunteers explaining things.

For communications we had the County OEM repeater available for our use as the Middlesex County Hazmat Team was also invited to take part in the drill, However, since the County EOC was not activated, we didn't need to make use of the frequency. We were cleared by the South Plainfield OEM to use the Department of Public Works frequency, as we are able to program that into our HTs and the Police and Fire Depts have that frequency in their radios. The area of the drill was so confined that simplex communications were more than enough to handle the situation.

So as I stated in the opening of this post, in essence, we got a "two-fer" with the drill. We helped the Emergency Services Departments of South Plainfield and this also nicely doubled as our yearly Simulated Emergency Test. Better and more realistic than any of the simulated table top exercises that we've held in past years.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!