911 recording from Kenosha County Tornado on 1/7/08

[Jarrod Cook]

Here is a link for an approximately 14 minute audio recording of Kenosha County, WI 911 as the tornado is approaching their county. It is a very good thing to hear. I suggest you try to listen to it all. It starts off a bit slow, then gets real interesting about half way through.

It really gives you an appreciation for the 911 operators and how busy they can get, as well as the patience they must have when dealing with the public. It also shows you how ignorant so many people are with the weather and the tornado warnings. I couldn't believe how many people called in to ask why the sirens were going off (and you can hear the sirens in a few calls).

I was disturbed by the fire chief who called in to say he spotted the tornado, and that they "need to get some wx bulletins out because there was no warning!" Jeeze, pay attention buddy!

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=705677

Edit: I see Mike Smith posted the link in the Tornado Emergency thread...but I'll leave it here for more visibility.

 

[Jim Zandonai]

Yeah that was interesting..it does show you how unaware many people are..
I assume the siren inquires increased maybe due to it being January but in any event people need weather radios.
Those 911 dispatchers ..omg talk about busy and outside of a Tornado warning its a daily thing of one thing or another..

 

[Bob Hartig]

I'm glad you started this thread. I listened to the recording on Mike's posting, and I was struck by some of the things you've mentioned, particularly the number of people who called in to ask whether the alarms they were hearing were tornado alarms, and whether they meant business. I guess that's understandable, considering the time of year, but still... I was shocked to hear one woman's response when she was told the alarm was a tornado alarm. Her reply was something like, "Oh, nothing to worry about, then." Wrong, the 911 operator told her, she needed to take the alarm seriously Good grief, when do you start worrying? When an I-beam comes flying through the picture window?

Also, did you catch the part where someone called in to report an accident, and a while later someone reported the tornado heading toward the accident? Now that's the kind of situation that'll relieve consitipation in a hurry.

 

[John Wetter]

I think that 911 operator needs recognition, and many people for the most part need to get a clue. The only thing we as the chaser community can do is try to tell people to pay attention to the weather. We'll never get everyone there, but we can try. There has been some discussion about the EM person calling in as well, but I'd mention that this is standard procedure in some smaller counties. They call in on a non-emergency line that gets answered in the same place as the 911 calls. I don't know that to be the case, but would guess it is so. Very interesting and nice insight in to what happens during a tornado in a 911 center.

-John

 

[Doug Raflik]

Ugh... I am SOOO embarrassed to be a Wisconsinite after hearing the beginning of that recording. Maybe those were people closer to the Illinois state line. LOL. JK IL. Sure did get intense fast. As a scanner monitor this was a very neat recording to listen to.

Doug Raflik

 

[John Diel]

This recording is a beatiful example of how quickly things go to pot in a very big hurry. First, confusion reigns as it's January and everyone KNOWS Tornadoes don't happen in Januaury, right?

Then the accident call. Tornado warnings going off on a possible tornado at this point (no calls or reports? At least not to the Dispatcher) and add to the mix an accident, then a fight call.

Think someone was getting a little busy? I'll bet there are calls we didn't hear. Now lets really add to this mix by getting reports of Tornado damage and definite sightings. Tornado is making a bee line to the accident sight where we have several people that may, or may not be aware of the immediate threat. Good call on the citizens part.

Those Dispatchers did an awesome job. They kept their cool and did their best to get out the timely information.

To the Fire Department that called in. I hear some criticism going on here. I don't think I would. I know I certainly would not be expecting a tornado in early January. It's also entirely possibly that they were not in radio communication or at the station with no power. That would be my guess given the phone call.

The EM person also did the right thing. She was apparently someplace out of communication and called to find out what was happening once she became aware that there was indeed a crisis brewing. It's not the first time in history that someone was caught unawares. To her credit, she got the essentail information and got off the phone.

Given what I heard on this clip and knowing what happened weather wise, I would tend to say that the event went rather well for those involved. It appears that for the most part, people did what they were supposed to.

Having done Emergency Dispatching here in Oklahoma, I can assure you that the calls of "what are the sirens for?" are not isolated. Even on something that was known ahead of time in the middle of Torado season. Those kinds of calls come in. I was a 911 Dispatch instructor for several years and I would have loved to had that clip in some of my classes.

I hope someone will get permission to use that in next years Storms of 2008 DVD. Stuff like that would make a great addition to the urgency that we as chasers sometimes miss.

 

[Shane Adams]

We have talked about this until we're blue in the face. Obviously it just doesn't get through to most people. However I'd attribute most of it to the location and time of year. Most people in the Plains are clueless in May, imagine how that number jumps exponentially when you make the setting Wisconsin in early January. I'm not at all shocked by any of that tape, it's what I'd expect.

I'd be interested in hearing the SKYWARN net tape between spotters and the NWS from that event, and any local news media. Maybe no one in the county was watching television that day???

 

[Mike Smith]

The reason I originally posted it in the Tornado Emergency Thread is because it reminds us that there seem to be many people who don't seem to understand a tornado warning. One of my several reasons to disagree with the use of "Tornado Emergency" is (remember, we are talking about the general public here) confusion: Hmmm. Let me think...Which is worse, a warning or an emergency? If you were one of those clueless callers, I don't think the answer would be obvious.

The TE thread was interesting and useful to me, thanks to everyone who commented. In that thread, I made the point that, from my point of view, all tornado warnings are emergencies. If we really believe "Tornado Emergency" phrasing is what is needed to get people into shelter, maybe we should change the terminology from Tornado Warning to Tornado Emergency. Just a thought.

 

[Danny Neal]

I wonder if any of the local media mentioned a risk of at least thunderstorms a day in advance? I am sure most people have their "favorite" weatherman on local television who they watch religiously like many do around here. If Tom Skilling says the sky is going to be red tomorrow then by golly it's going to be red! My mom was a dispatcher and I let her listen to this and she sort of laughed because she said she had to deal with the exact same thing. So indeed it isn't an isolated occurrence. I got a chuckle out of the caller at the end "Uh hi! I am calling to report a tornado in my backyard LOL" I could understand how the chief of fire from Wheatland said they had no knowledge of the situation, but that goes with the question of what is their standard alert method? Anytime severe weather usually is imminent or a watch is issued a page gets sent out to all the local emergency services alerting them. I haven't seen the warning lead time to tornado touchdown stats yet but I really have not looked either. It seems like most everyone was on top of things even on a January day. The fact that the callers knew something was up to call into 911. Whether it be NWS, NWR, News, radio, even 911, the word got out and lives were saved.

 

[Kevin Bowman]

I wonder if any of the local media mentioned a risk of at least thunderstorms a day in advance? I am sure most people have their "favorite" weatherman on local television who they watch religiously like many do around here. If Tom Skilling says the sky is going to be red tomorrow then by golly it's going to be red! My mom was a dispatcher and I let her listen to this and she sort of laughed because she said she had to deal with the exact same thing. So indeed it isn't an isolated occurrence. I got a chuckle out of the caller at the end "Uh hi! I am calling to report a tornado in my backyard LOL" I could understand how the chief of fire from Wheatland said they had no knowledge of the situation, but that goes with the question of what is their standard alert method? Anytime severe weather usually is imminent or a watch is issued a page gets sent out to all the local emergency services alerting them. I haven't seen the warning lead time to tornado touchdown stats yet but I really have not looked either. It seems like most everyone was on top of things even on a January day. The fact that the callers knew something was up to call into 911. Whether it be NWS, NWR, News, radio, even 911, the word got out and lives were saved.

Skilling has been on vacation for 2 weeks so it was the CLTV crew doing the weather that day. i think it was Tim Mcgill

 

[Kevin Bowman]

the utter stupidity of the general public

 

[Shane Adams]

the utter stupidity of the general public

Actually, the term is "ignorance"

 

[Linda Kitchen]

I think most people don't believe that something like this can happen to them. They think that it must be a mistake. It's human nature to deny unpleasant things, and if an unpleasant thing happens at a unusual time it makes it easier to believe that it isn't true. In any case, I think the operators were very professional. It must be hard to keep so cool when your so busy, and you know lives depend on you.

 

[Jarrod Cook]

I think most people don't believe that something like this can happen to them.

Yeah, that's ignorance. Everyone thinks nothing can happen to them.

It must be hard to keep so cool when your so busy, and you know lives depend on you.

I agree, the 911 operator did a very good job keeping her cool - but the lives of others didn't depend on her in regards to the tornado though - it's the NWS's job to get the warning out in a timely manner (which they did) and then it's in the public's hands to pay attention and know what to do in that particular situation. I still can't believe how many people actually call 911 - the EMERGENCY number, to inquire about why the sirens were going off.

 

[John Diel]

Jarrod,

I am going to respectively disagree with your last statement.

but the lives of others didn't depend on her in regards to the tornado though

In fact, the lives did rest with the 911 Operator. Merely by the fact that the person called and she gave out the proper information "take cover, this is not a test". NWS had done their job by issuing the warning. Someone at the EOC had done their job by activating the siren. the 911 Operator did her job by answering the phone and making the proper action of "Get under cover".

The failure, if any, would be public education and reaction. Not anything else that I can derive from listening to the clip and reading the various news stories and chaser reports.

Some of this can be derived from just plain being dumb. some from denial, some from ignorance, or any other of a host of excuses. Everything was in place and the proper actions were carried out, People failed themselves by not acting accordingly.

Along those lines, is this akin to Mike's 'Warning vs Emergency' concept? Could the reactions be based in too much public overload from TV News screaming "The sky is falling!" everytime a thunderstorm comes near? I don't know. It's something that I'm sure will be debated and it's certainly a thought. Did this cause some of the reactions heard on the clip? It's something to think about.