Irving, Texas RACES / ARES

or his assistant(s). The Irving RACES Radio Officer reports directly to the City of Irving Emergency Management Coordinator, which in turn supports the Dallas County Office of Emergency Management, both of which are supported by, and support, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency). These agencies were formerly identified (and sometimes still are) as Civil Defense groups. It is not necessary to be a member of any radio club to belong to Irving RACES/ARES, although some operators are members of the Irving Amateur Radio Club. Membership in Irving RACES/ARES is maintained by fulfilling the requirements set forth by the Irving RACES Radio Officer as required by the OEM. The primary purpose of RACES/ARES is to furnish communications to help protect and insure the safety and welfare of the citizens of Irving. We can be activated for any threatening situation or disaster, or any situation requiring our communications support, including WMD (weapons of mass destruction), but the majority of activation's deal with weather. All members are Skywarn trained and are the on-the-scene observers from which the U.S. Weather Service draws its primary information to issue warnings/alerts. Additionally RACES has the added responsibility of notifying the Fire Department to activate the City Warning Notification System when specific City defined criteria is met. RACES is identified in most emergency response plans, and has an ECC (Emergency Communication Center) at a City facility. We also have a back-up ECC at another site, operating positions with the police department, fire department and cover the major hospitals. There are other RACES EOC's (Emergency Operating Center)/ECC's located in the command centers of Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Mesquite, Garland, Addison, Red Cross, the Department of Public Safety, and the major hospitals in Dallas County. ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) is an ARRL (American Radio Relay League) organization and is not limited in its activation criteria as is RACES. All Irving ARES members are also RACES members. Both groups are for the same purpose, and complement each other, with RACES dealing with an immediate threat to the public safety and ARES dealing with health and welfare and potential threats.