This past weekend, Arapahoe County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) showed how prepared we are for responding to our served agencies. The Arapahoe County Office of Emergency Management as well as the Aurora Office of Emergency Management utilized reports from our radio operators to assist in handling the fourth largest winter storm in the metro area history. Our nineteen volunteers, operating from their home stations, provided up-to-date information including: snow fall amounts, visibility, wind speed, temperature, and road conditions.That information was used by the City of Aurora and Arapahoe County to help dispatch appropriate equipment to specific geographic areas.

Arapahoe County ARES was on standby beginning Saturday, March 13th for ten (10) hours. On Sunday, we were active from 09:30 hours to 1800 hours. There was cooperation with our neighboring (Jefferson, Denver, Douglas/Elbert, Boulder, and Adams) counties. Our efforts are really what Amateur Radio and ARES is all about. We believe that we had over 300 volunteer hours of assistance, allowing our served agencies to more effectively handle such disaster as we saw this weekend.

As Emergency Coordinator for Arapahoe County ARES, I am extremely proud of the help we provided. Thank you to all our members who participated. Special thanks to: Mike Curta, KDØUFO, Severe Weather Coordinator, Ben Baker, KBØUBZ, Operations Section Chief, Randy Councell, NOØEM, Training Officer and Liaison Officer, John Nanny, ADØPD, Planning Section Chief, and Alan Bieber, KIØEP, Deputy Training Officer.

Working with Arapahoe County Amateur Radio Emergency Service and all the outstanding members remains a privilege for me.

Respectfully submitted,

Peter Meer, KCØVAQ
Emergency Coordinator
Arapahoe County Amateur Radio Services