Glenpool OK is first city in the United States to use 911 tornado warning system

[Jim Saueressig]

Glenpool Post

Glenpool City Council gave the okay for City Manager Ed Tinker to sign a one year contract for the first of it's kind tornado warning for all 911 residents of Glenpool during the city council meeting Monday July 7th.

The new system will automatically ring all 911 land line phones in the Glenpool 911 data base when a tornado warning has been issued specifically for Glenpool.

Only 911 residents within the tornado warning polygon issued by the National Weather Service will be called, in place of warning the entire county.

The new Glenpool WeatherCall tornado warning system contract is the first for any city in the United States. ..........

Full Story .....

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

I am sure this thread will bring about much discussion, but I say, I am all for it. Anything that will help warn the public is a step forward. It will be interesting to hear the reactions to this move from the residents of Glenpool.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

If a resident does not wish to be notified by phone of tornado warnings, the 911 subscriber's phone may be omitted from the call list per their request.

This makes it livable I guess, personally I am an "opt in" person rather than an "opt out" but considering how dumb people can be now days this is probably the only way to go.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Yeah for those who may not know...Glenpool is a tornado hotspot of sorts in E.Oklahoma and is a growing suburb southwest of Tulsa. I would say great idea, but hopefully it has some fail safes built in.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

This was a system of alerts started this year by Tulsa's KTUL 8 called Frank's Weather Calls. They system is $6 a year and you can pick what warning notification you want. Glenpool decided to have all the persons in their 911 area paid up by the city for tornado warnings only.

Since not everyone is near a siren but most everyone has a phone it was felt more persons could be reached in the event of a tornado. Like Brian said there were several tornadoes or warnings in this area this year. This could be a great way to get a focused group warned quickly. My wife turns the weather radio off if I am gone, however a phone is always with her.......LOL This would be eaiser than me having to call in the middle of a chase.

 

[mike scantlin]

well, now my friends wont have to call me when the sirens go off.

seriously, that was a huge problem this year. Glenpool has been under 3 tornado warnings this year, and i received about 10 calls each time. but i think this is a really good idea.

 

[jeremy wilson]

Great idea! It will only be a matter of time before this saves lives. I wish the whole country would do it. My good friends brother, wife and infant baby were ripped outta thier bed at 2 a.m. in the morning by an unexpected tornado. This phone call woulda got them out in time.

 

[John Wetter]

I wonder if there is an opt-in mechanism for cell phone only households...

 

[Kiel Ortega]

I'm pretty sure Caddo or Grady Counties in Oklahoma had this set up already...one of the OKC stations did a story on it after Mar 30 (?, I think it was that day) storms. Maybe it's a first for a private company.

 

[Chad Cowan]

This is hopefully the start of a trend that will keep people from saying 'we had no warning' in post-tornado media interviews. With only about 2% of homes equipped with NWR's, something has to change and I think this is a step in the right direction. This town will be a good test market for this and help bring to light some of the potential downfalls.

I believe there are some college campuses that implemented this Reverse-911 system after the Virginia Tech and NIU shootings.

 

[beaudodson]

Hmm Graves County, Kentucky is doing this as well. Not sure the Oklahoma town is the "first" or not.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

I am sure this thread will bring about much discussion, but I say, I am all for it. Anything that will help warn the public is a step forward. It will be interesting to hear the reactions to this move from the residents of Glenpool.

Heh, I'd tell you, but I don't live there anymore. I suppose I could see what my parents think, but they are already well above the curve on weather awareness due to having a meteorologist for a son.

 

[Jeff Rector]

We use the CodeRed reverse 911 system in Frederick oklahoma. The only difference between Glenpool and Frederick is that the system is automatic call, whereas in Frederick as the emergency manager I had to go through several steps to get the calling started. Good for Glenpool .....it will save lives.

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

Hopefully it won't take too long to relay the warnings. The reverse-911 system took too long - +20 mins to reach everyone - when a man with a gun was supposedly found here at Iowa State (turns out he had no gun), but then again cell phones are added to the list of automated calls here.

P.S. It won't reach everyone now that some households are losing land lines entirely. It's kind of like setting up the call to go to all rotary phones in the early 80's or something. But at least the older folk (who are more likely to sleep through sirens, not be awake and aware for health reasons, etc.) will still get it, as they should.