In Washington the weekend of October 30th, the Snohomish County ACS/ARES and City of Everett ACS groups partnered to sponsor an ACES Basic course. The course was attended by more than 30 students, and taught by a team of Oregon and Washington instructors. Participating agencies include Snohomish County ACS/ARES, City of Everett ACS, Federal Way ACS, Whatcom County ACS, Tulalip Tribes OEM, Blaine ACS, Puget Sound Energy ARES and Emergency Services Coordinating Agency RACES.

Class started in Everett in the Providence Hospital conference room. After two days of instruction and practice, the class moved to Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management at Paine Field for the final day. Following the written test, the students were divided into smaller groups and evaluated on their ability to properly program their radio. The students individually set frequency, tone, offset and other parameters into their radios and demonstrated saving them into a memory position. They also demonstrated determining if a message is tactical or formal, and the proper procedure to send each one.

Aside from individual evaluations, the group conducted several simulated nets where they checked in, listed their assigned simulated traffic, and sent and received at least one message.

Following the course, a train the trainer program was delivered to enable local regions to take the ACES Basic course and teach classes in their own organizations.

For a more detailed account of the course, see Brian Lawler's blog from Whatcom County.

For more pictures of the event, see the gallery.