BEARS Team Seeks to Keep Island Connected No Matter What Happens

A critical task, immediately after an earthquake, is to establish some form of communication. This is demonstrated well in This Is Chance!, a book written by islander Jon Mooallem about the 1965 Great Alaskan Earthquake. You might recognize this book as one of our community book reads.

The BEARS (Bainbridge Emergency Auxiliary Radio Service) Team is hyperfocused on this critical task, working to ensure the smooth flow of communication in the community, especially during times of need. 

Lionel Halvorsen and Jim Henderson are the Team Co-Leads. Lionel likes to quote the American Radio Relay League (ARRL): “When all else fails, amateur radio works.” In a disaster, our regular means of communication—cell phones, landlines, and internet—are likely to fail. But, by using amateur radio and other technology, the BEARS Team strives to ensure that communication will continue, no matter what happens, because of the radio infrastructure they have established on the island and within their team. 

During large-scale incidents, BEARS will facilitate message traffic between the Disaster Hubs and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located at the Ted Spearman Justice Center. In this way, Hub Managers can reach out to the EOC to request assistance and the EOC can reach the Hubs with daily information bulletins. In addition, the Hubs can communicate with local Mapped Neighborhoods to help arrange for resource sharing. This will happen when there are people who have extra food and water to give and others who are in need.

BEARS volunteers help out each year at the Bainbridge Island Rotary Auction & Rummage Sale, roving the campus with their radios to relay public safety and medical needs to the EOC.

One of the goals for the team is to set up a high-frequency (HF) station at Strawberry Hill, which will function as the communications center for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

The EOC and an accompanying radio room were built in the Spearman Center, but the radio room is small and not able to function as an HF station. A facility at Strawberry Hill would fit more people and be quieter and more focused on the main radio aspect of communications. 

The BEARS Team welcomes more volunteers. A radio is actually not a requirement, but an amateur (ham) radio license is. If anyone is interested in getting their ham radio license, whether or not they want to join BEARS, Bainbridge Prepares offer a free class and exam at least once a year. To sign up to be notified when the next one is scheduled, fill out the form on this page.

BEARS volunteers must also take standard emergency coursework like Incident Command Center (ICS) training. If you’re interested, contact the Team Leads.

All of this emergency communications preparation takes time and money. Please consider making a donation to Bainbridge Prepares, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

The featured image shows BEARS teammates at the start of the Rotary Auction.