When Ed Tazelaar played out a script for disaster recently the scene was as complete as possible:
Three tornadoes swept through Palatine demolishing the Village Hall, Police Department, Park District offices, public works building, fire stations and nearby businesses. Gusty winds and severe lightning leveled electrical and telephone lines, radio antennas and two cellular phone sites. An unknown number of residents were dead, injured or missing.
Palatine was in a crisis-at least on paper.
“We tried to think of the unthinkable,” said Tazelaar, the village’s Emergency Services and Disaster Agency coordinator. “When what you use every day isn’t there, we have to think of other methods. It’s all about being prepared and having something to fall back on.”
For the emergency exercise and for actual disasters, the village calls on area amateur radio operators who can use their hobby as a lifesaving communications link. More than 20 ham radio buffs gathered atop the highest hill at the Riemer Reservoir, where they raised their antennas, plugged in their personal radio equipment and made contacts over the airwaves to those who would lend a helping hand in the mock tornado drill.
Some members of the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service chapter in Palatine, which teamed up with the village to sponsor its first communications disaster drill, even pitched their tents and camped out overnight.
The exercise was part of an annual nationwide Field Day event in which thousands of amateur radio operators set up their equipment to make contacts with each other while working under emergency conditions, such as a tornado.
“This is showing our degree of preparedness and is an opportunity to test the equipment and capabilities,” said Sanford Franzblau, radio officer of the Palatine chapter. “We can see if we need to improve our performance.”
“We rely on ham radio operators a lot,” said Douglas Barnes, suburban volunteer communications chairman of the American Red Cross. “Even the most sophisticated systems today can’t do what the hams are doing. They bridge communication barriers and get communication flowing. It’s a productive use of the hobby.”
Barnes, a 30-year amateur radio veteran, said the Red Cross would be a vital link for stranded residents to receive shelter, food and other emergency services.
“In an emergency response, you use whatever means is available,” said Todd Little, a R.A.C.E.S. member. “It’s satisfying work for me.”
