ECRV



The ECRV, or Emergency Communications Response Vehicle, was designed and created for the American Red Cross by Gary Gilham, Steve Hailey, and Bob Bavis, national headquarters-based Disaster Communications staff, and Ted Harris, a volunteer partner, to provide communications links between disaster relief operations and the Public Switched Telephone Network, the Internet and other public and private communications networks. They include an interoperability switch which allows agencies and the Red Cross to communicate with each other while using their own radio systems.

The nine base vehicles for the original design, Ford Excursions, were donated by Ford Motor Company; subsystems and components were primarily acquired through funding via the Disaster Technology Integration Program (DSTIP). The vehicles were extensively modified to add an 8.5KW alternator driven by the diesel engine (keeping weight down, thereby avoiding significant safety hazards), a 52' pop-up pneumatic mast capable of rotating while holding a large shortwave yagi antenna and which also has a video camera with telephoto lens for disaster assessment purposes, a VSAT two-way satellite antenna system, a one-way DirecTV DBS antenna, and sixteen HF, VHF, UHF, WiFi and microwave antennas feeding its radios and data systems. The Chevrolet Suburban is the basis of vehicles delivered in October 2007 to locations in North Carolina and Connecticut, this version does not have the pneumatic mast. An ongoing series of upgrades have enhanced vehicle capabilities, and second-generation ECRVs use a variety of other similar vehicles.

ECRVs are garaged in secure locations around the United States, and deployed when significant disasters require communication support. Training has a major emphasis on safety, as multiple severe injuries, amputations and fatalities have resulted from improper operation of similar television ENG vehicles. Fortunately, none of those include ECRV operators.

The operator training course involves approximately 40 hours of classroom and hands-on instruction with the ECRV's various onboard systems, safety training that includes driving an obstacle course, and coverage of mast and RF safety issues. Course prerequisites include a current defensive driving certificate, a clean DMV record, current First Aid and CPR certifications, and enrollment in the Disaster Services Human Resources system of the American Red Cross. Operators are called on as needed to drive the vehicles to and from disaster locations and operate the systems until communications can be otherwise restored.

They have been used in multiple relief operations, including but not limited to Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season, and the October 2007 California wildfires.