Blog I wrote for my Principles of Emergency Services class

Who says you cannot teach old dog new tricks . . .or, maybe, that should be new resources? As I read chapter five (5) in our textbook, I learned about numerous public and private support organizations that I had never heard of before today. One of these is the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System or MABAS for short. Actually, I was a little familiar with MABAS from monitoring  it on the Broadcastify site (formerly Radio Reference) (http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/511/?rl=rr) (Blanton, 2013). Additionally I was familiar with it because it is similar to the Georgia Mutual Aid Group (GMAG) here in Georgia . (Georgia Mutual Aid Group, 2010).

Founded in the 1960s, MABAS is, as its name suggests, a mutual aid organization. Prior to 9/11, its roots were primarily in northern Illinois. Since 9/11, however, it has spread into other areas including: Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri  (MABAS, 2013). According to the organization’s website, their goal is to “systematically provide speed of response of emergency resources to the stricken community during an on-going emergency.” A neat feature of MABAS, in my opinion, is that they don’t require (emphasis added) a Declaration of Disaster to initiate a routine operation.

References

Blanton, L. (2013, August 13). Chicago northern suburban fire departments and m.a.b.a.s.. Retrieved from http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/511/?rl=rr Retrieved: August 13, 2013.

Georgia mutual aid group. (2010, January 01). Retrieved from http://www.gmag.org/ Retrieved: August 13, 2013

Welcome to mabas. (2013, January 01). Retrieved from http://www.MABAS.org Retrieved: August 13, 2013