Should Emergency Personal be Skywarn trained

[carey libby]

after reading certain posts,it seems to me that anyone certified in Emergency respond,seems to be calling in false reports.i know that they are under pressure before,during and after the event,but so are we.
but when they start to call in weather reports stating that they see funnel clouds or tornados,they have no idea that civilians are listening in on them.if they report one of the two,then they just started a snowball effect in getting the public in a uproar.
our C.P.O.trys his hardest to put us in that area because he helps to determine if the AIR HORNS should blare to worn the community of the oncoming.but if he has to rely on Emergency personal reports,then the whole county would be under the red flag.
there is only three out of our entire county in emergency respond that is Skywarn,and even then two are V.F.D.
wouldn't it be nice to move into a town and see Skywarn stickers on Emergency vehicles knowing that the town is weather wise to?

 

[John Diel]

In this part of the country (Oklahoma) NWS Spotter trained people are about a "dime a dozen". That being said, most of them are older folks with failing eyesight or younger "kids" who don't have the experience under the belt yet. We get a great many false reports in this area and there's a couple of smaller towns that the sirens blare about the time a dark cloud shifts position.

There are a few though that have the training and experience to help keep the excitement down to a dull roar and for the most part, all the Skywarn and EOC folks do a pretty good job.

Of course, I would bet a lot of them would say the same about me! Since I'm radio and there's only one other Radio station in the area that reports live weather, we get accused of "inflating" the situation. I know that I report what I see. Not what I think I see. If I don't know, then I don't report it. I am absolutely sure the other guy does the same. Yes, there are the "Scanner people" out there. I know that most Emergency Personnel are fully aware that they are being listened to. That's the nature of life out here. So we all get used to it.

The Police generally don't call in sightings unless they know what they are looking at. The Fire Department is usually pretty well busy cleaning up the various car accidents. The Sheriff's Deputies are generally out and about, but keep pretty much to themselves as there are plenty of spotters out there too.

 

[rdale]

Yes they should be (too many sheriffnadoes) but it'll never happen unless the police chief for that department requires it. VERY rarely (but occasionally) will I find public safety employees at a training seminar - and usually it's the FF side.

 

[Anthony Petito]

Well, is there a downside to training emergency personnel besides the obvious training costs associated with it? I think it's something very valuable to learn, especially for emergency personnel.

 

[Bryce Stone]

There really isn't any downside whatsoever to training all emergency personnel in recognizing significant severe weather. At the local Skywarn spotter classes, it is common to see police and fire personnel attending. The classes are free to everyone who attends. Oddly enough, I can't ever remember seeing emergency medical service providers at these training classes.

But yes, it is critical for ANYONE who is responsible for making a severe weather report which is to be filtered to the public aware of what to look for and report. There really should be more of a drive by the NWS to have more emergency services personnel attend at least a basic Skywarn class, especially in tornado-prone regions like the American midwest and plains. However, I've noticed many of the local emergency providers hang back and let the Skywarn volunteers do what they were trained to do. I've even had police ask me what was happening with the weather. I think in most situations where police are calling in severe weather events it is because no Skywarn personnel are available or in the area.

 

[carey libby]

yes,the training is free which i don't get.people loves stuff that is free.and you would think that with all the severe weather events that has happened,you would think people would show up and learn.
IMO...if you do want to help keep your family safe and help the community,then you SHOULD show up and learn (even if it is only for the basic training).

 

[Chris Sokol]

yes,the training is free which i don't get.people loves stuff that is free.and you would think that with all the severe weather events that has happened,you would think people would show up and learn.
IMO...if you do want to help keep your family safe and help the community,then you SHOULD show up and learn (even if it is only for the basic training).

The problem is that with so much required training in the fields, that most either do not or can not take the time for another class that is not even in their job descriptions. If a dept takes on the responsibility to act as spotters, then they should. But in other cases, it should not be required, as you would have a bunch of disinterested people show up, not really pay attention, and learn nothing. The exception to this is Emergency Management personnal. It makes no sense for this group not to be.

Trust me...in volunteer fire depts, it is hard enough to get personnal to show up for manditory fire training.

 

[Shane Adams]

Absolutely not. There's already enough people responsible for reporting who don't know what they're looking at; "training" emergency personel would only compound the problem. Let the emergency personel do their job, which takes place after the tornado/severe weather. The spotters/chasers will take care of the reporting.

 

[Craig Maire II]

storm spotter training

I see nothing wrong with having as many emergency services personnel trained in storm spotting as you can get, the more trained eyes the better! Storm spotter training classes generally only last around 2 hours (once per year) so I can't see why finding time to get to a spotter training class would be a real problem. Maybe many emergency personnel just dont think that severe weather phenomena such as tornados are that big of a threat (wrightly or wrongly) thus not warranting a trip to a spotter training class? Tornados are RARE events, even though they are shown on TWC etc. many times now during a given year.

 

[rdale]

"The spotters/chasers will take care of the reporting."

That may be the case in your area - but in the Great Lakes when the police officer tells his dispatcher he thinks there is a tornado, the sirens are sounded. That's not good. The only fix is to get them trained, but they think that since they work in the field they don't need training to know what a tornado looks like. Hence the phrase "sheriffnado"

- Rob

 

[Robert Dewey]

I agree with Rob Dale, that things should depend on your geographical location. Here in the Great Lakes, we get reports of baseball sized hail, large tornadoes, etc. all from the police -- Most of which never verify. But, things being as they are, I don't think any Skywarn class would help the officers here in MI (my cousin would be included in that) :lol:

 

[Jeff Wear]

It seems like at least 2/3 of the severe weather reports I see in the LSRs are made by police/sheriff/fire dept/other emergency personnel....and if they are the ones who are making the majority of the reports, then yes they definitely should be trained.

 

[Bryce Stone]

I agree with you, Shane, that in an ideal world spotters and chasers would always be there to make the calls. But that is most certainly not always the case. In my EOC we have a limited number of spotters, and there have been several times when severe weather entered the area that spotters were simply not available.

The fact is, life is never ideal, and police and firefighters have and will continue to call in reports of severe weather. All I'm saying is that if reports are being called in, doesn't it make sense that they are called in by trained personnel?

These classes are, as someone mentioned, only held once a year. Surely it would not be too much to ask that emergency services providers be trained in this area. In Oklahoma (and I assume most everywhere), police trainees undergo training in firearms, emergency vehicle operating, law, hazmat, fire extinguisher use, basic lifesaving medical techniques, water rescue, etc., etc., etc. It is the most basic common sense to add basic severe weather spotting to this list in tornado-prone areas.

The more I think about it, I'm wondering why the hell AREN'T cops and firefighters trained to spot severe weather? I wonder how many people here object to this idea because they feel it will steal the thunder and glory away from spotters and chasers? Until some incredibly advanced rader is invented, spotters (and even chasers) will be a ground-truth necessity. I don't see the position eroded and diminished by a combined effort with those providing emergency services. I feel it may even bring the two groups closer together because they will share some common ground.

 

[Shane Adams]

I'm not disagreeing with you guys on the philosohpy of having more trained eyes, I'm just pointing out the very real fact that trained spotters/EOCs/whatever are not going to be efficient spotters out of the box just because they have a piece of paper declaring they will.

Maybe this is the best we can do, but IMO it's more dangerous in the long run having even more (truthfully) untrained eyes watching the skies, and consequently making more false reports, which then cause people to second-guess the next time it happens, and this adds even more fuel to the already-burning-out-of-control fire that is complacency.

You mentioned this system should cater to individual geographical areas; this is perhaps the biggest problem of all. You just don't get many opportunities to learn in a lot of places, simply because there isn't a lot of severe weather. This isn't the fault of anyone, just Nature.

 

[rdale]

" I'm wondering why the hell AREN'T cops and firefighters trained to spot severe weather?"

Because the cops don't care... They "know" what a tornado looks like and don't need to sit in a classroom for 2 hours seeing videos.

NWS will even make separate "public safety only" talks around their schedule, but it rarely is requested.

I don't think Shane is saying that we need to check ID's at the door and reject all cops, but in any case even if that did happen it wouldn't result in too many people being blocked.

- Rob