You’ve put out a call for volunteers for your brand-new local emergency response organization. It’s so new that you don’t even have a name yet.Follow past the jump for more details and the prizes.

We invite your – in the “comments” section – or via email to me – jonathan dot soroko at gee mail dot com.

In an urban community of 460,000, 1% – 4,600 have agreed to be volunteer emergency responders. The community is part of a larger city, whichdoes not have an effective emergency planning/response capability. Here’s what else you neeed to know:

1. Because this community by itself is a small portion of the whole city – municipal assets are likely to be unavailable.
2. Underneath much of the neighohood are petroluem pipelines which carry liquid petroluem products. Seomteims it’s heating oil, sometmes gasoline – and sometmes aviation (jet) fuel.
3. The petroleum pipelines share space with the fire water mains.
4. Insurance companies are trying to avoid renewing homeowners’ policies. And not selling new ones.

So – you’re the chair of your local emergency response organization. You’ve got 4,500 volunteers. Please assume that they’re reasonably bright, all speak and read English, but have no experience or special skills.

Surprised by the sudden and enthusiastic reponse, you’re not sure what to do next.

1. How do you organize them? Do you let people pick whatever skills they want to pick up – or make assignments?
2. How do you allocate resources to communications, medical, transportation, etc.?
3. Do you make a a fore department part of your foc
4. Does everyone get the sane initial training?
5. The 5,600 vary greatly in physical conditioning and skills. Do you leave it as it is, encourage people to exercise, or put in place an exercuse program?
6. Your area of operations is roughly bisected by a rock ridge. Without a repeater, no radio signals can get past the ridge. We assume for the moment that you have permission to use a high-rise building as a site for a repeater.
   1. How many channels do you need to manage 4,600 people.
   2. Of those, how many channels need repeater pairs?
   3. Do you also need portable repeaters? If so, how many?
7. How much money do you need to fully equip your team?
8. What are you going to call the team?

Best submission – gets glowing praise on this site, plus a signed autgraphed copy of Irwin Redlener’s Americans at Risk, onw bottle of Kedhe’s barbecue sauce (Kehde’s, near Kansas City, Misssouri, is widely regarded as one of the best barbecue joints in the United States).