In article , Steve Bonine wrote:

One of the problems with the locals is that they expected exactly the
special treatment that they had not earned, acting like prima donnas.

That's not good, and I agree that it's a problem. That sort of
attitude can certainly generate some serious negative reactions on the
part of the full-time emergency response officials.

They made it excruciatingly clear that the only task they would consider
was pure communications, and that it would be done on their terms.

Well, in our training, we have been told that communications is all
we're supposed to do, when we're deployed. This is for two reasons:

(1) We may be the only effective communicators at a particular
location... that's what we're deployed to do. If we're asked to
(e.g.) direct traffic, we're not communicating, and not doing our
jobs.

[On the other hand, "communicator" is a very broad term. If we're
not needed 'on the air' we can be asked to carry messages back
and forth in person, or use the phone, or fax, or etc., or to
take a public-service radio rather than a ham radio... this is
all within our job scope.]

(2) We're covered under the California Disaster Service Worker program,
which gives us some liability protection and worker's-comp
coverage if we're injured (as I mentioned). The rules for this
program say that we're covered *only* when we're acting within the
scope of our assignment and within the scope of our training, and
are properly supervised.

If we start doing jobs for which we are not properly trained,
we're not covered, and are potentially liable for any damage or
harm that we do. If we go off on our own and are out of contact
with our supervisors (city or county), then we're not covered
(with the exception that a direct order from a sworn law
enforcement official takes priority).

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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