March 13, 2024 Update
The IAP has been updated to reflect changes in the frequencies for the “Sarge”, W8SGT, in Columbus. There was also a change in the address for Miami Township Fire Department Station #81 in Yellow Springs.
March 11, 2024 Update
The Incident Action Plan (IAP) and a CSV file with the settings for your radio for use with Chirp have been posted on the Document Center page. Please read the Overview to get an idea of what to expect and make sure that the ICS 205 data are in your radio.
March 7, 2024 Update
Please see the BARC Newsletter article on Eclipse Preparations. We will likely need many radio operators on the day of the eclipse to monitor activity at the various viewing sites and even from home. Watch the website for the Incident Action Plan (IAP) coming soon!
Original Post
There will be a total eclipse of the sun crossing through Dayton, OH, next April 8, 2024, from about 1-5 pm (totality around 3 pm). Although most of us will be enjoying the spectacle from home, it is anticipated that 10’s or even 100’s of thousands of people will be traveling to the Miami Valley to view the eclipse. Ohio is within 5-10 hours driving distance of a good portion of the U.S. population and the state of Ohio is advertising and inviting people to come. Here is a link to the Ohio Eclipse website. Note that there are a large number of sites listed in Greene County to view the eclipse.
https://ema.ohio.gov/media-publications/ohio-total-solar-eclipse
What does this mean for GCARES? It is likely that Greene County EMA will begin planning for the eclipse soon (if not already) and may eventually be asking for assistance from GCARES to provide communications at various local venues as well as crowd control and traffic control. When so many people stress the local facilities, there are always needs for medical assistance and general information.
Be sure to read up on the upcoming eclipse and review some of the after-action reports from Kentucky and other sites from the 2017 total eclipse. Short version: they were overwhelmed by the number of people even with a year’s preparation.