Local non-governmental organizations that normally respond to Rhode Island  disasters are invited to practice "grid-down" or "auxilliary" communication protocols during this annual Exercise BEACON which will have significant participation from California's coastal communities using a challenging earthquake  and tsunami scenario. 

Information: https://www.beaconexercise.org/

If you are a Rhode Island organization interested in building communications resiliency in a challenging "grid-down" situation, contact us at info@gen4ai.org.

During a complex dam damage assessment exercise involving several agencies using drones, radio volunteers inspected for downstream damage and relayed a drone picture to Portsmouth's Incident Communication Center. 

During Newport Folk Festival weekend,  Newport County radio volunteers practiced sending messages to a station at Newport Fire Station 2  which then relayed photos to a Fort Adams command post staffed by Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency. 

With the participation of Newport Fire Department, eighteen FRS, GMRS, and 'ham' radio volunteers deployed to senior care facilities across Newport County and practiced sending and receiving messages without the use of  Internet or cell phone infrastructure.