
Mark Newby, KX4LEO, Emergency Coordinator


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ALERTS & ACTIVATIONS FOR SUMTER COUNTY ARES
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NO ALERT
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For Sumter County ARES
​In the event of an emergency condition, this section will be replaced with important information about the current situation. Posts will be listed in chronological order with the newest information first.
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<< EXERCISE EXERCISE >>
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SEVERE WEATHER 25​
February 5, 2025
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A statewide National Weather Service tornado drill will be conducted on Wednesday, February 5th, 2025. As part of this drill, many government and non-governmental organizations are taking advantage of this drill to conduct preparedness exercises and awareness campaigns in their local areas.
As part of the Florida Severe Weather Awareness week, Sumter County will be conducting a communications exercise on Wednesday Morning starting at about 9:30 AM and running until noon.
The scenario is that a possible tornado impacted an area of Sumter County near The Villages during the late evening on Tuesday , February 4th. The exercise will use the assumption that Sumter County Emergency Management has already deployed resources to Shelters and Points of Distribution (POD). For the exercise it is assumed that Cell and internet service in the impacted area is not functioning.
As part of this exercise, Sumter County ARES will simulate activating to ARES Alert Level 2 at 9:30 AM or shortly after. This will be announced on the K4HOG Logistics Repeater, (147.030), by email and on the Sumter County ARES website. The SCARES Emergency Coordinator will announce an ARES Incident Commander, (AIC). The requirement for SCARES members to make contact with the AIC is waived for this exercise. Members who do wish to participate, however, should announce themselves on the K4HOG Logistics Repeater when the announcement is made on that frequency. There will be NO practice field deployments or other assignments for SCARES members for this exercise. During the exercise the National Weather Service will be issuing a Tornado Warning test which will be incorporated into the exercise as it occurs. The AIC will announce the conclusion of the exercise on the Logistics Repeater.
In preparation for this exercise, please review the Sumter County ARES Emergency Operations Plan, which can be found at https://www.sumterares.org/alert
Click here for more information about the National Weather Services' statewide tornado drill. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Mark Newby, KX4LEO
Emergency Coordinator
Sumter County ARES
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02/05/2025 09:35 ET
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EXERCISE EXERCISE
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This is KX4LEO, Emergency Coordinator for Sumter County ARES. This is an exercise for Sumter County ARES.
As of (TIME) I am activating Sumter County ARES to Alert Level 2 and delegating WV1TPR (Rusty Blankenship) as the ARES Incident Commander referred hereafter as the AIC for this exercise. All questions and requests for assistance from Sumter County ARES should be directed to the ARES Incident Commander.
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The requirement for SCARES members to make contact with the AIC is waived for this exercise. Members who do wish to participate, however, should announce themselves on this K4HOG Logistics Repeater.
All actions during this exercise are simulated other than for the passing of messages. There will be NO practice field deployments or other assignments for SCARES members for this exercise. During the exercise the National Weather Service will be issuing a Tornado Warning test which will be incorporated into the exercise as it occurs.
Updates will be announced on this repeater, by email and on the Sumter County ARES website at www.sumterares.org/alet. The AIC will announce the conclusion of the exercise on the Logistics Repeater.
This is KX4LEO standing by and turning ARES Incident Command over to WV1TPR. This is an exercise only.
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02/05/2025 12:00 ET
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EXERCISE EXERCISE
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The Severe Weather 25 Exercise has concluded. The K4HOG Logistics Repeater has been returned back to normal amateur use. I want to thank all SCARES members who participated.
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Mark Newby, KX4LEO
Emergency Coordinator
Sumter County ARES
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