What’s the best way to communicate in an emergency?
There is no single right answer. Emergencies are unpredictable — you never know what will go wrong. Will your internet work? Your phones? Your radio? To be ready, you need a couple of options, because your favorite might not work. Our mountains also have such varied topography and connectivity that the answer will differ for every neighborhood.
Here are the options to consider:
- Radio-based internet (Starlink, Etheric, Surfnet) — Works great if you can see the sky. Very resilient.
- Wired internet/phone (AT&T, Comcast) — Works as long as lines aren’t destroyed and equipment has power. Reliability varies by area.
- Cellular service — Much of our area has poor coverage, and without power, towers last only 24 hours.
- Low-power radio (GMRS, MURS) — Works line-of-sight, requires neighbors to practice, but cheap and very resilient.
- FRS (Family Radio Service) — Cheap walkie-talkies, of little value in our terrain.
- Ham Radio — Requires a license and serious practice, but maximally capable and resilient. No neighborhood plan is complete without it.
The PACE Framework
PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. Use it to plan how your neighborhood communicates at each level of degradation:
- Primary — Normal conditions. Usually radio-based internet, email, messaging.
- Alternate — Landlines or cell phones. Less reliable, but may work when internet is down.
- Contingency — GMRS/Ham radio. Completely different technology, independent of internet infrastructure.
- Emergency — Satellite phones, iPhone SOS, or a pre-agreed meeting point or note location. Last resort.
Your neighborhood will have different priorities depending on terrain and what skills your neighbors have. The key insight: you always need a Plan B and a Plan C, because you never know when Plan A will fail.
During an Emergency
When a large-scale event occurs, the fire department activates a Department Operations Center (DOC) at fire stations. DOCs are staffed with ARES Ham operators and CERTs. Neighborhoods communicate requests for assistance to the DOC via GMRS or Ham radio. The ARES operator relays that information to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), which routes it to Incident Command and OES.
This means GMRS and Ham traffic can reach emergency services even when 911 is overwhelmed.
Get Prepared Now
- Determine your neighborhood communications strategy
- Build your neighborhood directory and plan your communications
- Sign up for Watch Duty
- Sign up for county alert messages
- Join the mailing lists
- Get a radio and program it with GMRS/MURS frequencies or the full emergency communications plan
- Print out emergency numbers and communications plans
During a Disaster
- Monitor Watch Duty and county alert messages
- Monitor mailing lists and neighborhood communications
- Turn on your radio
- For fires specifically, multiple sources need to be monitored — see Getting Fire Information
If You Need Help
- Always try 911 first
- Contact neighbors by email, text, or phone
- Use GMRS radio to reach neighbors
- Use Ham radio to contact the fire department DOC