NH-ARES Operations Plan – Attachment A

ATTACHMENT A – NH-ARES ACTIVATION TREE [1]

10/31/20

INSTRUCTIONS:  If the person you are assigned to call does not answer, leave a message if possible, then try alternates listed on the next page, and if that fails, call the next person on the list. Continue down the list until you reach a live person. This ensures that the notification chain is not broken. The last person contacted must report the status of all contacts to the initiating party at the top of the list, so each caller must keep track of all contacts.

Alternate Contact List

NH-ARES CALL TREE INSTRUCTIONS

• A request to activate NH-ARES may be made by any LAC, Skywarn coordinator, or any ESF-2 liaison (NH-HSEM, Red Cross, or other agency).
• The NH-ARES telephone call tree may be activated in full, or in part, at the discretion of the ACO and as the situation warrants.  The call tree is page 2 of Attachment A.  An email should also be sent via the appropriate NH-ARES email reflectors, always including NH-ARES-Official.
• The call tree will be initiated at the Section staff level: ACO, logistics ASEC, or operations ASEC.
• Information passed on to each person on the list must include:
  • all event-specific information (type of emergency and support required, etc.)
  • Status Level
    • Level 2 – Stand by and listen on assigned net frequencies – monitor situation & email
    • Level 3 – Activate nets and begin preparations for full activation
    • Level 4 – Full activation
  • any initial Section Net frequency to be used
  • the status of all others called so far (see procedure below)
• Each person will call the next person down in each branch until everyone has been contacted.
• In the event that a primary contact person cannot be reached, the caller can then try to reach their assistants or alternates so that activation of that group can occur.  Alternate contact information is found in the general roster.
• If you reach an AEC or alternate instead of a primary contact, do not pass the responsibility for calling the next person off to them unless they have up to date call tree information and adequate familiarity with these activation procedures.
• Each person will report to the next successive person the status of each of the preceding contacts.  Valid statuses are:
  • ✓ No contact
  • ✓ Message left
  • ✓ Not available
  • ✓ Responding
  • ✓ Contact made with AEC or alternate (provide name & callsign)
• The last person in each branch will complete the loop and notify the ACO of the status of each person or group as above.
• The ACO will notify the logistics and operations officers of the status of each person or group in the activation tree.
• If any EC and their AECs cannot be reached, the ACO may opt to activate the group directly, or to dispatch the RED Team to cover until the group can be activated.  This should only be done if there is an immediate need for communications.
• Radio contact in lieu of telephone is acceptable as long as there is no sensitive information to pass along.

Optional and Small-Event Alerting Procedure

The ACO may assign a single person to act as “activation dispatcher” and call all persons on the tree or as directed.  This method is preferred for partial activations.  This procedure should be used for partial call-ups.