The Manatee County ARES/RACES Emergency Communications Plan

• Provides essential auxiliary communications capabilities in any emergency.
• Functions according to the Incident Command System (ICS).
• Recruits and Trains individually licensed FCC operators.
• Provides reserve resources for all radio, dispatch and electronic technician roles.
• Is a non-profit corporation in the State of Florida, intended as a 501(c)(3) entity.

Manatee County ARES/RACES (MC ARES) is authorized and established by the Manatee County Emergency Management Division to provide volunteer professional communications specialists, administrators and Amateur Radio operators for essential communications during events or periods of national, state or local emergency (declared or undeclared) and special events.

Roles, responsibilities, policies and procedures are intended to span the entire lifecycle of Emergency Management from Protection, Prevention, and Mitigation through the Incident Response and Recovery phases.