Oklahoma Fire Chief Incident from May 16

Wow. What post are you speaking of that has the details? I'm curious as to what actually went down.

Edit: the link finally showed up for me.

Was he angry at the fact you were a storm chaser or impeding emergency services or what?

Edit 2: Very unprofessional and childish behavior to not even explain the situation. That's an insane way to respond to you trying to travel down a road, not to mention dangerous sitting in the middle of the road with very limited visibility.
 
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As soon as he started pounding on my car, I would have accelerated, over the top of him if need be.

No way of knowing that this guy was any kind of law enforcement/EMS.
 
I can't confirm this for sure, but I saw a white utility truck that very much resembled that truck blow a stop sign at E1240 Rd and N1940 Rd west of Carter just as that tornado was really ramping up. He was going north, so it times up with your video pretty well. That may very well have been that same person. I remember being alarmed at how aggressively that truck went through that intersection - it was not smooth and he was probably going 40 or more. Something is not right at all about this situation...
 
I don't know why exactly. But I'm having a hard time with your Link posted. So here it is again.
My 2¢. This maybe a miss interpretation of a person trying to save your life. Or as he sees it stopping a person from driving to his death. Which he has no idea who you are or what you are trying to do. Trying to get all of your attention focused on him. So as delaying you, from moving forward. Acting like a crazy man. He sure did it. This could be what he was doing. Yes, there are other ways to do this. I'll agree with you on that point. I can't tell what he is saying when he steps out of the view of the camera. Do you remember? I do see in the video he is trying to tell you to turn around "Get outa Here!". I think he says. Yes I know he says more then that. But I'm not gonna post those few words. Wish I could hear the rest of it. I'm also giving him the benefit of the doubt...

Hey Tony if you don't know this Person. How do you know he is a Fire Chief from Carter? Also is your vehicle decked out with instruments?
 
I don't know why exactly. But I'm having a hard time with your Link posted. So here it is again.
My 2¢. This maybe a miss interpretation of a person trying to save your life. Or as he sees it stopping a person from driving to his death. Which he has no idea who you are or what you are trying to do. Trying to get all of your attention focused on him. So as delaying you, from moving forward. Acting like a crazy man. He sure did it. This could be what he was doing. Yes, there are other ways to do this. I'll agree with you on that point. I can't tell what he is saying when he steps out of the view of the camera. Do you remember? I do see in the video he is trying to tell you to turn around "Get outa Here!". I think he says. Yes I know he says more then that. But I'm not gonna post those few words. Wish I could hear the rest of it. I'm also giving him the benefit of the doubt...

Hey Tony if you don't know this Person. How do you know he is a Fire Chief from Carter? Also is your vehicle decked out with instruments?

I do not feel there is any benefit of the doubt... this man was aggressively violent, screaming obscenities that, no, I cannot recall hearing over the weather outside, nor was I about to open a window to him after he tried opening my door once. I do not see how you can even begin to think he has any right to act in that manner. Period, I don't see how you can even begin to think that seeing this video.

And I won't go all out and make assumptions on this man's Meteorological knowledge, but I am leaning toward none, or too little to "save my life".

I don't know this person, however from the original post I made about this incident posting a screen grab of the guy, he was identified by several responding to that post. If they're wrong and he isn't a civil servant, well... yeah...

No, I do not have a "look at me" vehicle.
 
Tony, I'm sorry you had to experience this. That is a really screwed up scene. It's still not clear to me from the FB post/comments whether or not he is a legitimate emergency management "official," but if so he was clearly unprofessional. Perhaps he was just panicking, but for someone in that line of work, being professional by definition means *not* panicking.

I really worry about having to deal with stuff like this while chasing; as if there aren't enough things that could keep a chase from being safe and successful, now we have to add stuff like this to the list. I just have to hope it's rare enough that it won't happen to me, but again I'm sorry it happened to you.

I think the broader issue of roadblocks needs to be addressed. El Reno was the first time I heard about roadblocks actually preventing people from escaping the path of a tornado, and now this type of thing at least anecdotally seems to be happening more and more. What can we as a chaser community do to raise the visibility of the issue of emergency officials with no knowledge of storm behavior/evolution making split second decisions of which roads to block??


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I think the guy may have been flying high on some sort of drugs. I really do. I sure wouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt, but I wouldn't have run him over, either. Man, you just never know what's going to happen out there. I'm glad it didn't get any uglier than that, Tony, and I'm glad you took and posted that vid.
 
That vehicle had zero markings, he had no emergency lights - red and blues are legal on POV if you are stopped in Oklahoma, and he was wearing no high-viz traffic vest.

Simply blocking a road like this is unacceptable! The guy clearly has no idea what he is doing. I volunteer as a first responder with the local Emergency Management office, and can say we have rules that we must follow closely. So many safety hazards present in the video above, and laws likely broken.

The ONLY time I would block a road is if there was debris (downed power lines, trees etc.) that posed an immediate threat to public safety, my vehicle would also have emergency lighting lit up. I would also be wearing my vest - see profile pic to the left.
 
This looks like the Guy.
Chad Rippatoe, maybe?
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I see what's going on here now. It's a case of bad timing. Tony just happens to be going by emergency vehicles. That's not correct. They have markings and lights that are flashing and turned on. You're suppose to pull over and stop. Instead you went by them. Just as they are putting up a road block. As you see in the video. Tony veers off to the left going into the oncoming lane. If this guy is the fire chief? He was on his way to be first on scene. To coordinate efforts for this emergency event. I think they, radio ahead. Said someone ran the blockade or got by. Afterwards you come up behind him. He blocks you and tells in other words "Get out of here! Turn around!" I would be careful about this Mr. Laubach. This could come back on you...

I'm sorry this happened to you Tony. I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm looking at this as objectively as I can. Thank you, for sharing this with us. For what it's worth, I'm a Retired Law Enforcement Officer...
 
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