Red Cross Holds Landmark Training at Manassas Park Community Center

American Red Cross volunteers from Manassas Park and Prince William County received specialized disaster services technology training this week at the Manassas Park Community Center.

 The training is the first of its kind, Red Cross officials said Wednesday.

Volunteers originally went to Red Cross headquarters Austin to train, Vicky Hamilton, activity lead for computer operations for the American Red Cross said.

 “We decided to bring the training to them. That’s why we at national headquarters are on the road,” Hamilton said.

The training was once seven days long, but has been consolidated into 2.5 days, she said.

Some 120 cases of equipment were shipped to Manassas Park from Austin for the training.  FedEx provided the shipping for free, she added.

 About 18 local volunteers are being trained this week on how to use the equipment in case infrastructure fails in the area during a disaster.

 Volunteers are trained on how to set up and use special laptops, conference phones, and radios.

Several satellites were set up just outside of the community center and were used to send information to a main Red Cross facility in Ashburn, just as they would in case of an emergency, Hamilton said.

Information can also be sent to Austin if the Ashburn facility was not available for some reason, she added.

 “We do lots of exercises, but this is a unique training because this is our national level disaster operations,” Gary Gilham, disaster relief coordinator for the Prince William Office of the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross said. 

A disaster technology command post such as the one set up this week will become operational when the capabilities of the local Red Cross is exceeded, such as in the case of a tornado, he said.

 Manassas Park has experienced tornados in the last five years, but there was no major damage reported, Gilman said.  The area also had a 100-year flood event about four years ago, he said.

 Volunteers train as if there was no wireless access or no phone lines available, as may be the case during a disaster, he said.

 “We bring in our own equipment,” he said. “We don’t rely much on local stuff.

It does not tax the local infrastructure. If we had a major disaster, you wouldn’t want to come in and tax them because we’re trying to help. We bring our own technology,” he said.

 “We’ll take (a building) that’s empty and convert it and bring in whatever we need to bring in to convert it into headquarters,” she said.  “ They train on how to connect everything and building the infrastructure from the ground up. Our infrastructure would support the internal Red Cross staff, not the shelters or the victims of the disaster,” she said.

 The Manassas Park Community Center is one place they may set up operations, Red Cross officials said.

The building is a great choice because it has its own generators, which makes it unique, Gilman said.

 The 1-year-old facility was planned with emergencies, in mind, he said.

 Wednesday was second day of the training, which will conclude Thursday afternoon at about 2 p.m. Hamilton said.