bruiser
03-28-2014, 09:00 PM
Today. It was unusually hot for a March day. I had the day off. A friend I hadn't seen in 12 years was coming down to the base on business and I was going to have him out to the house for dinner. After dinner, we were hashing over old times. A storm hit about 7:30 and the lights went out. We went outside to check things out and it was eerily quiet. At 8:15 my emergency pager (volunteer firefighter/EMT) went off and kept toning. This could only be a mass disaster. I heard our chief ask what was going on. Central said a tornado had torn through the south end of the county. 12 of 22 county departments were called out to assist. I took Ed back to the base. On the way my radio was jumping. I couldn't get a call in. We saw downed trees and branches. The base was on emergency status. I got to the fire station, called in and took the brush truck to the scene. This was the first time many of us had been involved in a disaster of this nature. I got clearance from my boss on base and I spent the next two days sifting through rubble and being dispatched to several sites around two counties. Daylight and the full magnitude of the damage was shocking. There was an outbreak of 22 tornadoes that night. 57 dead. 16 dead in a four county line that included our county. It was the worst outbreak in 100 years. The tornado was an F4, a mile wide. It skipped across 17 counties. Two of our firefighters were seriously injured in an auto accident. A man ran a red light and broadsided our tanker pinning the driver in the cab. The man in the car was driving on a suspended license and under the influence.
The takeaway. New notification procedures by the NWS were implemented. The volunteer Sky Warn network was set up with trained spotters on the ground reporting direct to the NWS. Kris and I are trained spotters. New response procedures, search training, mutual aid and radio procedures were put in place for the volunteer fire departments and emergency agencies.
You see it on tv but it's nothing like real time.
The takeaway. New notification procedures by the NWS were implemented. The volunteer Sky Warn network was set up with trained spotters on the ground reporting direct to the NWS. Kris and I are trained spotters. New response procedures, search training, mutual aid and radio procedures were put in place for the volunteer fire departments and emergency agencies.
You see it on tv but it's nothing like real time.