Team Leader Appointed National Co-Chair

Ohio TERT is pleased to announce team leader Nick DiCicco has been appointed National Co-Chair of the National Joint TERT Initiative. NJTI is the cooperative oversight committee that supports the creation and sustainability of state-based TERT teams across the United States. Nick’s leadership of Ohio TERT has seen a tremendous increase in activity and visibility for the squad, and we are so proud to see how much energy and determination he will bring to NJTI and teams across the country.

DiCicco is the Director at Chagrin Valley Dispatch, and has been part of Ohio TERT since 2016. Team Leader since 2024, Nick has led deployments to the United States Virgin Islands, Lee County Florida, and Buncombe County, North Carolina. Among the advancements Nick has brought to the team include the addition of CVD’s field command and communications unit Havoc-1, establishing joint cooperative response with Ohio MARCS and Motorola, and the addition of the IAmResponding app to keep team members in touch.

Now rostering a staff of nearly 60 personnel, DiCicco has empowered Ohio TERT leadership personnel to constantly look for ways to grow and improve the team through aggressive recruitment, affirming stakeholder relationships, and leveraging available technology to aid in the team’s mission.

The telecommunicators of Ohio TERT are at the heart of the team, and Nick always ensures that our efforts are focused on supporting and improving the team. Nick’s energy and drive are seemingly without end, and we are so happy that his appointment as NJTI Co-Chair will give the other TERT teams around the country the opportunity to improve in the same ways Ohio TERT has.

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The Ohio Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (Ohio TERT) is part of the National Joint TERT Initiative. Established in 2005, NJTI is a joint effort of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International and the National Emergency Number Association. For further information, visit http://www.njti-tert.org or www.ohiotert.org.

 

PDF VERSION OF THIS RELEASE

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Regional Activation

For the second time this month, Ohio TERT personnel will be deploying for activation in Northeast Ohio. (3) personnel have been assigned as part of an Interregional Communications Strike Team that will be assisting at the Parma Regional Dispatch Center following the sudden passing of Public Safety Dispatcher Jeff Lipp. Lipp served as an Auxiliary Police Officer for the City of Parma for 16 years and joined the Parma Regional Dispatch Center in 2017.

Assigned personnel will be covering at Parma on Sunday and Monday, 19 and 20 July, while Parma personnel attend calling hours and memorial services for Dispatcher Lipp. Therapy K-9 Odin from Chagrin Valley Dispatch will also accompany the team to provide support as well. The remainder of the Task Force remains available if additional personnel are needed.

Ohio TERT extends our deepest condolences to Dispatcher Lipp’s family, the Parma Regional Dispatch Center, and Parma Police Department, and the City of Parma.

A joint initiative of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials and the National Emergency Number Association, Ohio TERT coordinates mutual aid response for public safety telecommunicators during disasters.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE: INTERSTATE ACTIVATION

Following an interstate assistance request, Members from Ohio TERT are preparing to respond to the Wayne County Communications Center. This is in response support of a July 5th shooting in the City of Rittman that killed 4, including Rittman Police SGT. Scott Ries.

Ohio TERT, part of the national Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce, is sending approximately 10 public safety communications dispatchers from across the state to relieve Wayne County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers so that they may attend the memorial service for SGT. Ries.

Ohio TERT Chair Nick DiCicco, Director at Chagrin Valley Dispatch near Cleveland, said Ohio TERT is deploying to do their part to help. “It is a privilege for the Ohio Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce to stand alongside the Rittman Police, Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and it’s communications professionals during this difficult time.” He continued, “…While our role is to ensure uninterrupted emergency communications by supporting dispatch operations, our greater purpose is to allow their dispatchers and public safety personnel the opportunity to honor their fallen colleague without compromising service to their communities. This is what TERT was created to do – support one another, strengthen our public safety family, and ensure no agency faces tragedy alone.”

The assigned OHTERT personnel will be working shifts on 9 and 10 July, but the remainder of the taskforce remains available for further deployment if needed.

Ohio TERT extends our deepest condolences to SGT. Ries’ family, the Rittman Police Department, Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, and all those affected by this Line-Of-Duty loss.

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911 Impact Award Recipiants

Ohio TERT recently learned that they, along with the other TERT teams who were activated and responded in late 2024, will be honored as recipients of the initial 911 Impact Awards. Along with our fellow TERT teams, other recipients include  Renee Gordon, Director of the Alexandria Virginia Department of Emergency and Customer Communications,  Jessica Rosenworcel, former chairman of the FCC, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, former U.S. Representative for Washington’s 5th Congressional District.

According to APCO International, the 911 Impact Awards “…provide a unique opportunity to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to public safety communications while celebrating the collective achievements of our community…” Ohio APCO President Cheryl Pratt added, “The members of the Ohio TERT Team are true heroes!  When they see chaos and destruction around the county the team cannot get there fast enough to aid their fellow telecommunicators.  Ohio APCO is proud of the entire team and the sacrifices they have made”.

The 9-1-1 Impact Awards replace the Public Safety Communications Leadership in Policy Awards to encompass a wider range of eligible recipients. Award recipients will be recognized in April in Washington, DC.

Ohio TERT Assistant State Coordinator Johnna Sells said, “I am so very proud of the work this team has done in its short time. We have dedicated deployed members and an outstanding logistics team that make it possible to succeed in these often-stressful situations. Ohio has shown it’s strength in these deployments and I only see this team getting growing and getting better and stronger with each deployment. We are no longer only the invisible voice that provides peace, we are the boots on the ground heading into the disaster. It’s a testament to the resiliency and enthusiasm of our people”.

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TERT Coordinator Workshop

Ohio TERT State Coordinator Nick DiCicco recently  attended a two-day TERT coordinators collaboration workshop in Ocala, Florida.

Representatives from Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, and Washington TERT convened to share valuable lessons learned from their 2024 TERT deployments. They actively engaged in discussions to identify mitigation strategies that will support TERT programs during future deployments.
Additionally, they reviewed agency policies and the newly established ANSI TERT standards. We extend our sincere gratitude to Florida TERT for hosting this collaborative event, and we eagerly anticipate participating in next year’s workshop and look forward to further strengthening our partnerships and knowledge sharing!
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Debriefing Meeting

Meeting

The team met in Columbus at Franklin County EMA on November 20th to conduct an after-action debriefing regarding our recent deployment to

Unloading

Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina. Committee Chair Nick DiCicco lead a discussion on the good, bad, and ugly, from first standby alert to the return of the last resource in October. This was a significant deployment for our taskforce; nearly double the manpower was required for this activation compared to Lee County or the US Virgin Islands deployments. A majority of the team was able to attend, including Noah Ash. We acknowledged the things that went well, and also spoke openly of the areas that could stand improvement. While we are incredibly proud of what our team was able to accomplish, there is always space to improve. And, a lot of that improvement derives from experience. Going into this deployment, information was difficult to come by, and was sometimes contradictory. Plainly, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. So, a chance to improve on that area for next time. Having personnel from Ohio MARCS along was also identified as a specific area of pride, and both of those members were noted for their work in restoring badly needed communications in the area.

One of the other areas we discussed was establishing regional TERT teams around the state. The purpose is twofold: firstly, to try to more equally balance out the team membership composition across the state, and secondly, to enable these teams to cover regional intrastate events, such as LODD events, or acute emergencies in a specific jurisdiction. The regions would align to the current Ohio Homeland Security regions, and each would have a coordinator that would be the designated team contact for their part of the state.

After lunch, the team went to the Columbus Department of Public Safety logistics warehouse to offload the tent loaned to us by Franklin County EMA. We inflated the tent inside one of the apparatus washing bays, and scrubbed, wiped, and washed this monster up and down. We left it inflated with a large fan running to dry it overnight, and a second crew returned Wednesday after the Ohio APCO/NENA meeting to collapse it, dry it off, and reload the tent back aboard the EMA trailer at the logistics warehouse. We again acknowledge and express thanks to Franklin County EMA for the use of the tent, and to Columbus Fire for allowing the use of the wash bay.

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Terra Firma

Taking down the state flag.

The entire Taskforce is now back in Ohio, after OH-2 and the remaining members from OH-1 returned on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday night, the team has a celebratory dinner along with the arriving logistics crew at a local Asheville restaurant to both celebrate what we view as a successful deployment, but to also honor and memorialize the overwhelming loss the region has suffered. Our work in Buncombe County has completed, but so very much remains to be done during the time ahead,.

The main drop point was in Cambridge around 4PM, but vehicles and various stuffs were being returned well into the evening. Upon returning to Orange Village in Cuyahoga County, team lead Nick DiCicco did an interview with Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW-TV. Nick gave discussion on the work the team did, but also provided some insight into the loss that has been endured in the region.

Outbound.

Lots of mixed emotions on returning back home- to loved ones, to work, to life. Lots of relationships forged with personnel from Buncombe County, Asheville, other TERT personnel, and folks at the camp. The personnel on both teams became like family to one another. The conditions at camp in many ways helped the team to be able to empathize with the community and folks they were interacting with. Having a home taken away – no place to rest or feel secure – is a jarring, traumatic experience, to say the least. Despite all the training the team brought to bear, it can still be difficult to establish a trusting relationship with a disaster victim without having some measure of the lived experience yourself. Becoming adopted members of the greater Asheville community gave the team a sense of responsibility and ownership while working along side their Buncombe Cunty counterparts.

TERT and tactical communications personnel remain at Buncombe County, and likely will for quite awhile. As mentioned, the road ahead to recovery for the entire region across North Carolina and Tennessee will take a significant amount of time. Too, ‘recovery’ will have a different look for each person, family, and community. The area has irrevocably changed as a result of Helene, so recovery may also include adjusting to a new sense of normality.

The team is set to reconvene later in November to conduct a post incident debriefing to clean supplies, go over the good, the bad, and the ugly for this deployment, and see what the path ahead for Ohio TERT looks like. As ever, we express thanks to each Member’s home agency and their leadership for allowing their personnel to deploy. Likewise, we acknowledge the partner agencies who lent stuffs, vehicles, and other Members for support and logistics. Our state level partners – Ohio MARCS, Ohio EMA, Ohio DPS – also played an important coordination role, and in MARCS’ case, sent people and equipment to help restore communications.

Thank you, a thousand times over.

#NCStrong

#WeAreOhioTERT

 

 

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Finish Line In Sight

Words of comfort

We’ve said that life goes on despite the disaster. And unfortunately, that held true for one of our team members, who had to fly home to tend to an emergent matter. The entire team is sending our best wishes as they navigate the next little while. The notes of support and comfort that were received have really come to symbolize what this deployment has meant to everyone on the team – unity and strength. The team has worked with local telecommunicators from Buncombe County, and with folks from other TERT teams across the country. Everyone has assisted where they can, and how they can. That is the goal of the NJTI program, and the mission of OH-TERT. But seeing the outpouring of support, seeing it in action – in a reverse flow of how it has been working (that is, one of our personnel being comforted by the folks we’re here to help) was an unexpected, and humbling, gesture. But, really, that’s how dispatchers roll with each other. The patch and logo do not matter. We all know the same job, the same emotions, and the same toll.

At the mess tent

Team 2 and the (2) personnel from Team 1 along with team leader Nick DiCicco (and Noah-Ashe) will be working their last shifts Monday and Tuesday, as the mission concludes. A 2-person logistics crew will again drive down on Tuesday to help shepherd the team home on Wednesday. This by no means signals the end of operations in the area. Many agencies and organizations remain in the area, and will continue to provide service for the foreseeable future. OH-TERT and the other teams that arrived a month ago were dispatched to help with immediate relief for the Bumbombe County PSCC. We feel that mission has reasonably been accomplished. But many other recovery missions and tasks remain in progress. It is likely that additional TERT personnel from other states will also deploy.

As some of the goodbyes start, our belief and hope is that OH-TERT 1 and 2 have been able to provide assistance for Buncombe County and Asheville, and the Buncombe County PSCC. Their personnel represent the very best of Western North Carolina; we are honored to have had the chance to help them.

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Our Own VIP Visitors

Our own VIPs

We’ve said a few times over these past weeks that it really does take a literal village to push forward through any deployment. Any regional or state team that deploys on EMAC assignments will tell you that it takes all parts of the squad, unit, or strike team, or task force to achieve a successful deployment. The personnel who are forward deployed (right now, OH-2, (2) personnel from OH-1, and team lead Nick DiCicco), the team back home (the entire OHTERT leadership team that has pitched in), and the agencies, families, friends, and miscellaneous superstars, all make the mission go through to a successful return of the team.

But just as important are our state partners who enable communications across state lines to determine how best to help folks farther away. Today, we were delighted, and honored, to receive some of our own Very Important People at HAVOC’s operating location. Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson, Ohio Emergency Management Agency Director Sima Merick, and Ohio EMA Regional Operations Chief Sean Miller all paid a visit while they were in North Carolina to assess not only the ongoing operations in-state, but to see how deployed personnel from Ohio were doing. EMA Director Merick also visited with the team in preparation for their 2022 Lee County deployment, and we have been appreciative of the EMA’s support of our work previously and on this deployment as well. We have worked with Ohio EMA staff to ensure our MRP documentation was correct and appropriate, and they have helped us to learn the professional ropes of interstate deployment. DPS and EMA have both offered support and allowed our personnel to prove the value of an active TERT program in our state. Our belief is that a TERT team is just as important as USAR, DMAT, IMAT (PDF), and other state teams that organize and deploy during time of national emergency.

Team 2’s countdown calendar

Operationally, the countdown is on for Team-2’s demobilization on Tuesday evening. The team is still split between HAVOC and the backup PSAP, and (1) additional dispatcher from Iowa’s TERT team has joined as well. Call volume remains constant, and brisk.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will visit the area tomorrow; Presidential candidate Donald Trump was also in the area yesterday. Plans are also underway to reopen the Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools next week as well. We mentioned also in our last post about some sense of normalcy starting to – ever so slowly and carefully – return to the Asheville metro area. The resumption of societal functions like school and the upcoming election are signs of that. But – without doubt – many lives remain completely disrupted. Many towns are completely destroyed. A school reopening does not change that sobering fact. Our hope is that by our work and presence in Buncombe County, we have helped to at least prevent further loss.

All personnel are safe and working, if a bit tired.

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To The Moon and Back

Team TERT OH-2 has been working for 4 days now, and they have kept up the pace that Team OH-1 set in the first half of the deployment. At present, 3 personnel from the team are working at the backup center, assisting with call taking, and the remainder of the squad is working aboard HAVOC on the 311 helpline. Call volume remains brisk and consistent. Moreover, the team is navigating logistical challenges as well- political figures and officials are visiting the area with greater frequency, creating the need to carefully navigate on the phone, on the air, and at home base.

Much has been written heretofore about Noah Ash, but his presence, accidental though it may have been, is proving to be a critical one for the team, and really the entire camp. The types of calls that the TERT team are receiving and processing have been described as the most difficult in their given careers. Considering the wide range of experience that Ohio TERT’s personnel bring to bear, that’s saying a lot. Noah Ash’s natural playfulness and curiosity has brought a light and affectionate counterbalance to the situation at hand. Our newly adopted mascot allows our team to focus on something aside from the difficult mission at hand, and everyone is glad for Noah Ash being there. #WhosAGoodDoggie

Each team has their own idiosyncrasies. One group might be all about their business, all the time. Another might take a more pragmatic approach to the mission. There’s more than one way to peel a potato, right? Coloring has proven to be a helpful diversion for Team 2. The messages of hope, love, faith, determination and affection for NoahAsh (#WhosAGoodDoggie) have all served as welcomed subject matter for our resident Ninja Picasso team members. And, the vibrant colors and themes of resilience are right on target for this mission, and this community. The primary goal is to help the team to cope with the call volume and types of calls they’re getting, to say nothing of their entire world being completely out-of-whack. All this said, their ability to cope and manage with their stressors makes them more equipped and readily able to support the gang at Buncombe County PSCC, who are enduring their own nightmares to a level few will ever understand.

Establishing some kind of normalcy is important on assignments like this. At the state APCO/NENA conference this year, the Committee gave an in-service presentation on TERT for interested public safety dispatchers. One of the things said that was important: “…get comfortable with being uncomfortable…” And, it’s proven so, so true on this assignment.  At points on this deployment, public utilities, telecommunications, gas, internet, telephone, and even interstates were all either compromised or completely disrupted. Bad news for a team whose mission is emergency communications. Nothing is normal about what is going on in Western North Carolina. The area is irrevocably changed forever. Lives are irrevocably changed forever. So, for Ohio TERT, and all of the acronym alphabet teams, even one normal thing is important. 1 quiet lap around the camp. 1 hot cup of coffee. 1 pleasant greeting. 1 glance at a coloring sketch. 1 lick from Noah Ash. That normalcy can be extended. 1 hug to a Buncombe County dispatcher. 1 word of encouragement to a Buncombe County resident. 1 piece of information that will connect someone to help.

We love you, North Carolina, to the moon and back.

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