Black Mountain Revives Radio Tech for Climate Disaster Preparedness

This article originally appeared in WFAE’s Climate Newsletter. Subscribe here to receive weekly updates on climate news directly to your inbox.

As climate-induced storms become more frequent, communities look for ways to enhance their preparedness. In Black Mountain, a town once ravaged by Hurricane Helene, residents have found hope in a revival of old technology, using radios and solar power to stay connected during emergencies. WFAE highlighted this initiative on the anniversary of Helene, showcasing the community’s efforts to bolster their emergency response capabilities.

Community Resilience in Black Mountain

During a recent deployment of Black Mountain’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), the focus was not on responding to a natural disaster but on ensuring safety during the town’s bustling Halloween festivities. The event saw streets lined with inflatable ghosts, plastic tombstones, and throngs of children in costumes, underscoring the community spirit.

Volunteer Chris Kepler was stationed at one of the reunification tents, ready to assist with lost children. “We’re assisting with lost kids,” Kepler explained. “We can communicate between our team by putting out a description of the child or the parent if the parent got lost from the child.”

Kepler, a military veteran, is part of a diverse group of volunteers who have trained to support the community during emergencies. Their first deployment, during Halloween, served as a training ground for using the town’s backup radio network, a critical system established after the original network was overwhelmed during Hurricane Helene.

Mastering the Airwaves

The radio network, powered by solar energy and positioned on Allen Mountain, allowed seamless communication among the volunteers. David Billstrom, a volunteer firefighter, has been instrumental in training the team. “They’re trying to use their Victor numbers — Victor for volunteer — instead of names,” he explained, emphasizing the importance of radio etiquette.

Billstrom outlined some key practices for effective communication: “The repeater needs a chance to catch up with you, so you have to press the button to talk and hesitate for just a minute — the rule is half a second — and then start talking.”

Lessons from Disaster

Reflecting on the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Black Mountain Fire Chief John Coffey recalled the devastation: “You ever see one of those documentaries where they talk about the end of the world and they show all these clips of just horrible weather conditions? That was it.” The town had been isolated, with no access to external aid or communication.

The experience left a lasting impact on residents like Kepler, who vividly remembers clearing debris with her chainsaw. “One of my neighbors — a tree fell down across her entire front yard. It blocked her in. She was on oxygen,” Kepler recounted. The CERT initiative aims to ensure such isolation never occurs again, offering a robust communication system disconnected from the internet.

“People are excited to have a device that actually works, that’s not connected to the internet, because they all had that trauma of not having a phone, in some cases, for a couple of weeks,” Billstrom noted.

Preparedness and Hope

As the Halloween festivities concluded, the event was hailed as a success, with several families reunited and no injuries reported. For the volunteers, it marked a step forward in preparedness and community resilience. Kepler reflected on the experience: “I always wanted to know: Is there more that I could have done? So, this gives me the skills to hopefully continue to educate my neighbors, first and foremost, and my family, and make sure that we’re ready, and be able to help the community at large.”