To:          Georgia PSAP Directors
                GA-TERT Members / Team Leaders
                GECA and GEMA/HS Staff

From:   Jonathan Jones, GA-TERT Deputy State Coordinator

RE:          Alert Notice for Hurricane Ida

Date:     Sunday, August 29, 2021

Hurricane Ida made landfall on the Louisiana coast as a category 4 earlier today, bringing catastropic storm surge, extreme winds, and flash flooding for portions of the State. Members of the Georgia Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (GA-TERT) are hereby placed in “ALERT” status and should begin to consider their availability for possible deployment.  In the event a request for assistance is received, we will quickly notify members and attempt to meet the needs of the request.

The GA-TERT Board acknowledges the unprecidented challenges COVID-19 has placed on your agencies and personnel. With that said, it is imperative that all team members login to the GA TERT portal to confirm the data in their profile, including contact and salary information. Members are encouraged to visit www.gatert.org to view the pre-deployment checklist and familiarize themselves with the program guidelines.

As a reminder, all requests for a GA-TERT deployment must come through the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority at the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) and be closely coordinated with local government and PSAPs.

ACTION REQUIRED: Agencies and individuals with active GA-TERT members should notifiy the GA-TERT Board (board@gatert.org) as soon as possible with their availability.

The mission of the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority is to facilitate the effective and efficient operation of 911 and emergency communications across the state, with the vision to be the No. 1 state in the nation for innovation in training, technology, and standards for 911 and emergency communications.

In partnership with NJTI-TERT and members of the National TERT Committee, FEMA recently completed a revision of the IS144 – TERT Basic Course (IS-144.A). We are thrilled to share that one of our own from Georgia TERT, Amanda Maddox (Henry County), is featured in the online training (please see Experience of Telecommunicators 1 of 2 on Slide 8). Thank you, Amanda!

The updated course has been published and can be found here: https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-144.a

All active TERT members are encouraged to complete the revised training, even if they’ve previously completed IS-144.

PRE-ALERT NOTICE

To:          Georgia PSAP Directors
               GA-TERT Members / Team Leaders
                GECA and GEMA/HS Staff

From:   Jonathan Jones, GA-TERT Deputy State Coordinator

RE:       Pre-Alert Notice for Hurricane Delta

Date:    Wednesday, October 7, 2020

As Hurricane Delta strengthens in the Atlantic, it is predicted to make landfall on the U.S. mainland as a category 4 or greater hurricane on Friday afternoon. Members of the Georgia Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (GA-TERT) are hereby placed in “Pre-Alert” status and should begin to consider their availability for possible deployment.  In the event a request for assistance is received, we will quickly notify members and attempt to meet the needs of the request.

Team members should login to the GA TERT portal to confirm the data in their profile, including contact and salary information. Members are encouraged to visit www.gatert.org to view the pre-deployment checklist and familiarize themselves with the program guidelines.

As a reminder, all requests for a GA-TERT deployment must come through the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority at the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) and be closely coordinated with local government and PSAPs. 

Emergency Telecommunicators who wish to join the GA-TERT in anticipation of this storm should review the requirements and submit their application as soon as possible. Questions about the program can be sent to board@gatert.org.

The mission of the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority is to facilitate the effective and efficient operation of 911 and emergency communications across the state, with the vision to be the No. 1 state in the nation for innovation in training, technology, and standards for 911 and emergency communications.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 20, 2020

Atlanta, Georgia – On Friday, September 18, 2020, the NJTI-TERT, LLC Committee Board was made aware of pending EMAC requests for 24 additional personnel to respond to Baldwin County 911 in Robertsdale, AL to support public-safety communications operations after Hurricane Sally caused major flooding on the Gulf Coast.  

Resources to fulfill the request were quickly identified including TERT personnel from Georgia. Earlier today the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) received a formal EMAC request for three (3) personnel from the Georgia TERT Team.

Personnel responding from Georgia include Team Leader Mandy Ptak, Kenchelv’on Jackson, and Jackson Adams, from Baldwin County 911. The Georgia TERT team is scheduled to arrive in AL on Tuesday, September 22 will join additional TERT members from Florida and Tennessee. This team will aid in servicing the devasted community with emergency calls for service and dispatching appropriate first responders and will relieve TERT personnel that have been on-site since September 16. All teams are scheduled to demobilize and return to home states on September 30, 2020.  

“Emergency communications protect communities at their core and we are proud to be providing support to our neighbors in Alambama to ensure 9-1-1 is available during their time of need,” said Jonathan Jones, Deputy State Coordinator for Georgia TERT And NJTI Board Member. “We are extremely proud of the Baldwin County team for their support of the program and this mission.”

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About Georgia TERT: The Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskfore (TERT) is a nationally recognized program for telecommunicator mutual aid response in the aftermath of disasters. NJTI-TERT provides information as to operational deployments of TERT programs and takes a leadership role in assisting governmental agencies in the development of TERT style programs at the regional, state and local level. Visit www.gatert.org or www.njti-tert.org to find out more.

Georgia TERT members are being placed on standby for a possible request from Florida TERT. Please call Amy Ivey at 770-881-3091 or email aivey@gordoncounty.org if you are TERT trained and available for a deployment up to 7 days. Thank you!