Wisconsin ARES Members Activated to Assist with Tornado Aftermath

Courtesy of American Radio Relay League

A rare January EF3 tornado in Wisconsin destroyed houses and knocked out power shortly after 4 PM (local time) Monday, January 7, displacing about 160 people. The Red Cross activated members of the Kenosha County and Racine County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) groups to provide logistical communications at the two relief shelters in Kenosha County, as well as from a communications station at the Kenosha County Emergency Operation Center. Riding along with Red Cross teams, ARES members helped relay damage assessments back to the Red Cross building in Racine.

"Providing communications is essential," said Assistant Emergency Coordinator for the Racine County ARES Alex Voss, N9RGX. "We set up a communications network at the Red Cross building in Racine, outside of the affected area. We were ready to go when activated. I couldn't be more proud of our volunteers. We will work with the responding agencies as long as they need us. We'll take what we've learned this time and use it to improve our response in the future."

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