Members of the Wedgefield CERT played a very important role at the Orange County Annual Hurricane Expo on Saturday, June 4th.
Seven volunteers were responsible for directing traffic and parking for the over 1500 people who attended the function. They did a fantastic job! Three other team members manned the CERT table inside the Renaissance Senior Center, telling people about the CERT program and answering questions.
This hurricane season has already been active with 3 named storms just a week into the season. Experts at the Expo told attendees how to prepare for a hurricane, Vendors showed them the newest products and the Office of Emergency Management gave away weather radios and first aid kits.
On a different note, we continue to try to solve our communication problems. The current hand held radios are only good for inter-team communications as they lack the broadcast range needed for Wedgefield. It has been determined that Amateur Radio is the only true answer. We currently have two licensed Amateur Radio operators and have a need for at least two or three more. Any CERT member that would be willing and interested in taking a short course over a weekend should talk to Phil Unser as he just passed the exam and has gained his call sign of KM4TRE.
The next weekend class is scheduled for September 10th and 11th at the Orange County Communications Center.
Phil can be reached at (407) 679-6644.
