Activations, Exercises, and Events
To ensure our responses processes work, CARES complements its' training activities with exercises and public service events. These activities work well in helping us test our tools, processes, and procedures with the goal of fine-tuning them as necessary. The ultimate goal is to put them to use whenever CARES, along with the rest of Cupertino Citizens Corp, are activated.
Activations
Activations are a declaration of some type of emergency resulting in a call up of first responders to assist with resolving the problem at hand. First Responders include paid public safety personnel as well as trained volunteers. There are different levels of activations; in Cupertino, these are:
- Level 1 - Full Scale Activation of the City's Emergency Response Teams - In a full scale activation, all primary and support staff and personnel are notified. The City's Emergency Operations Center will be staffed by Division of Emergency Management personnel and all Emergency Support Functions.
- Level 2 - Partial Activation of City Emergency Response Team - This is a limited City activation. All primary, or lead, Emergency Support Functions are notified. The City's Emergency Operations Center will be staffed by Division of Emergency Management personnel and necessary Emergency Support Functions.
- Level 3 - Monitoring Activation - Level 3 is typically a "monitoring" phase. Notification
will be made to specific staff members, organizations, and Emergency Support Functions who would
need to take action as part of their everyday responsibilities. The City' Emergency Operation
Center will be staffed with
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Drills & Exercises
As described by FEMA, Drills & Exercises are excellent opportunities for CARES and CERT teams to practice, assess and improve their emergency response plans and on-the-ground operations while engaging their volunteers and refreshing the concepts and skills learned in CARES training.
- Drills
A Drill is an activity that tests, develops, or maintains skills in a single emergency response procedure. Examples of drills are phone tree activations, field message handling, and NCS/EOC operations. Drills are held in the field or at other assigned operating positions using actual equipment when appropriate. Their focus is limited. - Functional Exercises
Exercise The Functional Exercise is intended to test or evaluate the capability of one or more functions, or complex activities within a function. The results of a Functional Exercise are obtained when the activity or function can be effectively evaluated within the context of other emergency management activities. For CARES, multiple functions will be exercised, such as running EOC Operations during a Preliminary Damage Assessment Drill or Extended Field Response Drill, or information handoffs between the Cupertino ARES net and the County net. These exercises could be centered in an EOC or interim EOC, and may include simulations of outside activities and resources. - Full Scale Exercises
The Full-Scale exercise is intended to evaluate the operational capability of emergency management systems in an interactive manner over a substantial period of time. It involves the test of major portions of the basic elements existing within the emergency operations plans and organizations in a stressful environment.
CARES will initiate CARES-only Full Scale Exercises as the main training tool that brings all previous training elements together in a full training exercise. The annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) and Emergency Field Communications Exercise (ARRL Field Day) are two such CARES-only Full Scale Exercises.
CARES will also look for opportunities to participate in broader exercises if another emergency response jurisdiction develops such a training activity.
Public Service Events
Public Service Events offer CARES membere another opportunity to practice its skills by deploying to support a comunity event, such as a race, community outreach, or other public-facing, non-emergency activity. The annual Cupertino Big Bunny Fun Run, Sheriff's Heroes Run, and Cupertino Fall Festival are just a few of these types of events that CARES supports.
Upcoming Activities
8 Jan 2026, General Meeting
Forms Review, includes Incident Report (911); St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
5 Feb 2026, General Meeting
Winter Storm Comm Drill Prep; St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
21 Feb 2026, Field Communications Exercise
Winter Storm Communications Exercise, start from home, 8:00am to 12:00pm
5 Mar 2026, General Meeting
Topic: TBD & Exercise Debrief; St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
2 Apr 2026, General Meeting
Topic: TBD; St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
7 May 2026, General Meeting
Topic: TBD; St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
4 Jun 2026, General Meeting
Field Day, 4-July Prep, 4-July Fireworks PSA; St Jude Parish Hall,19:30 to 21:00
27 Jun 2026, ARRL Field Day
Tentative: Memorial Park | Parking lot behind Quinlan Center, 10185 N Stelling Rd. 08:00 to 17:00
4 Jul 2026, Forth of July Fireworks
Provide communication to/from 3 viewing venues to net control at Incident Command Post