V. COMMUNICATIONS

Communications among personnel within participating agencies will follow normal inter-agency procedures. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department Communications Center (JCC) is the primary contact for all communications concerning Ralston Creek and its tributaries. JCC is responsible for relaying weather and flood information to other flood warning plan participants.

During emergency operations, field personnel from one agency wishing to communicate with personnel from another agency should follow their own jurisdiction's incident command system. This will assure a system of managed communication and information flow. If an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated in either Arvada or Jefferson County, communications will include the EOC.

Primary communications between the National Weather Service (NWS), Henz Meteorological Services (HMS), JCC and Arvada will be by telephone. When conditions warrant, amateur radio operators can be called into each location to establish alternate communications according to previous agreements. Arvada, Jefferson County and the fire districts will use assigned radio frequencies to communicate with field personnel.

HMS initiated communications require special emphasis. With JCC remaining the primary contact, Arvada Police may also be contacted directly by HMS when "RED FLAG" messages are issued which require priority attention on their part. Arvada will continue to receive HMS messages from JCC. Any participating entity may initiate calls to HMS or dispatch personnel to the appropriate EOC if more direct information exchange is desired. When an EOC is activated, local authorities may request that HMS include the EOC as an additional or alternate contact point.

The following page contains pertinent telephone numbers and radio frequencies. The "Internal Communications Flow Chart" (Figure V-1) on page V-3 illustrates the collection and dissemination of weather information from various sources and shows the intended inter-agency flow paths for data and voice communications.

TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND RADIO FREQUENCIES

Organization

Jefferson County Communications (JCC)

Jefferson County Emergency Management

Jefferson Co. Highways and Transportation

Arvada Police Department

Arvada Emergency Management

Arvada Fire Protection District

Fairmount Fire Protection District

National Weather Service (NWS)

severe weather line

public line

Henz Meteorological Services (HMS)

alternate line

fax

Urban Drainage and Flood Control District

ALERT Base & Weather Bulletin Board

Indicates principle contact for HMS

Commonly Shared Emergency Radio Frequencies

CLEER "Colorado Law Enforcement Emergency Radio"
FERN "Fire Emergency Radio Network"
NLEC "National Law Enforcement Channel"

Other Radio Frequencies

ALERT repeaters (Blue Mountain & Smoky Hill)
ALERT gaging stations
NOAA Weather Radio (Denver)                162.550
    NWR alternate 1 (Longmont/Mead) 162.475
    NWR alternate 2 (Fort Collins)         162.450
Ham severe weather spotter network      146.940
    alternate                                                     147.120

Certain phone numbers and radio frequencies are considered confidential and therefore, are not listed in the above table.

Figure V-1

RALSTON CREEK FLOOD WARNING PLAN
Internal Communications Flow Chart