Neighborhood Emergency Team
The South Waterfront Neighborhood Emergency Team (SoWa NET) is one of many NETs supported by and supporting the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM). SoWa NET covers the area from the Ross Island Bridge on the north to Bancroft St on the south, and from Interstate 5 on the west to the Willamette River on the east. SoWa NET meetings are held on the first Thursday of February, May, August, and November from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm unless otherwise noted. Meetings may be held on-line via Zoom or in-person in locations that vary. Email tl.southwaterfront@friendsofportlandnet.org for meeting details and other information.
SoWa residents are encouraged to learn about what can be done to prepare for natural disasters. Advance preparation, plus knowing and helping neighbors, are important to surviving disasters and to having resilience to recover afterwards. Taking a few steps now to prepare yourself, your family, and your neighbors can make a huge difference when a natural disaster happens.
NETs include Portland residents trained by PBEM and Portland Fire & Rescue to provide emergency assistance within their neighborhoods. PBEM-certified NET Members are tasked with developing plans for disaster preparation, response, and recovery, all three components of disaster resilience. Others, not certified, but valuable in an emergency are Affiliated Trained Volunteers (ATVs), who have skills gained through education, training, or employment, and Spontaneous Untrained Volunteers (SUVs) who show up ready to help in a time of need.
SoWa NET works to 1) help individuals be prepared in their living units by stocking up on emergency supplies, 2) coordinate preparedness within residential buildings, 3) ready the SoWa community by addressing issues beyond the capacity of one building to solve, 4) organize a communication network within SoWa to provide access to emergency resources outside our neighborhood and 5) develop a working relationship with Fire Station 4, located at SW 5th Ave and College St, the primary Fire Station for SoWa.
SoWa NET includes local Amateur Radio Operators (AROs) (aka, ham radio operators) who will communicate with emergency resources outside our neighborhood. Each building’s preparedness team will use walkie talkie FRS or GMRS radios to communicate with the SoWa NET command center so we can better communicate our condition and needs to PBEM.
See here for our Deployment and Operations Plans.