About Irving RACES/ARES

IRVING RACES is a single group whose members belong to two separate organizations. This group consists of amateur radio operators who volunteer their time and equipment. Because all members meet the specific requirements of both RACES and ARES, it is called a dual hat group. All members are FCC-licensed amateur radio operators and are enrolled in the Irving Office of Emergency Management and are also registered ARES members.

Over the years RACES has typically required more training than ARES to support its government sponsor and the other government agencies that it supports, but recently ARES is requiring the same, or more if individually desired, training.

The main difference, then and now, is that RACES, being a part of the City of Irving Emergency Management, all members are a City Emergency Volunteer with a City ID badge, and have always had a basic background check requirement. This was/is to mitigate the liability to the City and the risk to the public by any City employee, or volunteer, with a City ID badge. That is the reason when the City of Irving RACES/ARES activates, we activate as RACES unless not allowed to by the FCC rules and regulations, per the instructions from the City of Irving Emergency Management Coordinator (our boss). Not all cities do a background check and ARES has no such requirement. Because of that, if we require mutual aid (more operators for communications support) we are not allowed to accept aid/help from any ARES groups or from any RACES group that has no background check requirement.

RACES is recognized both locally and nationally and is a volunteer service that is endorsed, defined and empowered by the Federal Government in the Federal Communications Commission Rules and Regulations Title 47 Chapter I Part 97 Subpart E – Providing Emergency Communications 97.407. Without this FCC regulation RACES would not exist.

All Irving RACES/ARES members are registered members of the City of Irving Office of Emergency Management and report to the Irving RACES Radio Officer (RO), or his assistant(s). The Irving RACES RO reports directly to the City of Irving Emergency Management Coordinator, who 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 a large number of operators are members of other clubs. Membership in Irving RACES/ARES is maintained by fulfilling the requirements set forth by the Irving RACES RO/ARES EC.

The primary purpose of RACES as defined by the FCC, is to furnish communications to help protect and insure the safety and welfare of the citizens of Irving. They can be activated for training or for any threatening situation or disaster, or any situation requiring our communications support, including WMC (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, if not already activated.

Irving RACES/ARES is identified in most Irving emergency response plans, and has an ECC (Emergency Communication Center) at the Irving Office of Emergency Management, a operating position at the Irving Police dispatch, Fire dispatch, Medical City Las Colinas and we are trying to reinstall the one at BaylorScott&White (Irving). There are other Cities RACES EOC’s (Emergency Operating Center)/ECC’s located in the command centers of Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Mesquite, Garland, Addison, Red Cross, DPS, and the major hospitals in Dallas County.

ARES is an ARRL (American Radio Relay League) sponsored organization and is not limited in its activation criteria as is RACES. The ARRL ARES organization only supports the EC and his assistants as needed and/or requested. The Irving ARES EC and his assistants, still report to their sponsoring agency (Irving Emergency Management). All Irving RACES/ARES members are registered members of the ARRL ARES group and report to the Irving ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC), or his assistant(s). 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 or potential threat to the public safety and ARES dealing with health and welfare, and public service communications (local public events: festivals, marathons, parades, etc.).

RACESECCphonenumber(whenactivated) 972-253-1529

William (Billy) Geer KA5OZC Irving RACES Radio Officer
Irving ARES Emergency Coordinator Cell Ph. 214-587-8729 wgeer@verizon.net