Georgia setting the standards for Mob
By Uyen Le Schneider
When it comes to mobile communications exercises , the federal government has dubbed the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency as setting the standards for the nation for its ability to put on an event of such a large scale and do so annually . During this event , GEMA / HS hosts dozens of counties , along with several state and federal partners for a mobile command center exercise to test and ensure all the different counties and agencies know how to work together in the event of a major incident .
“ Georgia has had this event for several years and we always use Georgia as a model for this type of exercise ,” said Pam Montanari with the U . S . Department of Homeland Security Office of Emergency Communications , who works with states on their statewide interoperability plan and advancing mobile communications .
In a disaster or large scale incident , mobile command centers are deployed to the incident area , but their success in interoperable communications depends on how well they know the technology and work together with other MCVs to ensure their radio communications are either compatible or don ’ t interfere with one another .
“ A lot of agencies in a lot of states don ’ t have the capability to host an event like this , to bring all their counties together and actually test their equipment ' s functionality ,” said Montanari . “ This is a great event in the fact that you ’ ve got hundreds of people and 40-plus command posts from local to county to state to federal agencies participating .”
The event has become the largest MCV exercise in the nation . This year , the state hosted 32 mobile command centers , 20 aviation and 10 marine units from around the
Fulton , Cobb and Hall Counties along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta Police Department , participate in a Super Bowl scenario during the MCV exercise . state . These include federal , state and local assets . It was the first year the exercise included marine units .
Edwin Whitworth , GEMA / HS Statewide Interoperability Coordinator and director of the exercise , said the reason for including the marine units was
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Georgia Forestry Commission prepares a portable repeater for aircraft deployment for wide area communications .