Should Emergency Personal be Skywarn trained

[carey libby]

don't get me wrong,i agree that it shouldn't be mandatory for them to take the classes.
HOWEVER,if they do plan to make a report that they see a funnel cloud,or a tornado,that it is in fact what it is.
if some of you chasers have ever been down here to E.Tx,then you know that we are surrounded by pinetrees.spotting with these in your way is pretty hard on some of these FM roads.i don't want to be pointing fingers here,but our S.O.around here are on those roads and are the worst about calling in false reports.i have yet to hear on my scanner to hear an ambulance driver,or DPS officer to call in on my scanner.i don't want to rule out the local law enforcement,but on times,they do call in.
our C.P.O. trys his hardest to put spotters in that area so that they can back up that officers report.
bottom line,if someone in the emergency field is going to call in a report,they better know what they are calling in,because if they cry wolf one to many times,then the public is not going to head the next cry and end up dying because of it.

 

[KMcCallister]

Like some of the other posts, my concern is the needs of the situation. In areas where training these types of people to also be spotters is needed, then that decision can be made locally. In other places, like central Oklahoma (where there's always a live view on TV anyway), it's probably not as useful.

I would prefer to think that a police officer in Oklahoma City will spend that time training on things that will more directly protect their lives and the lives of the public.

 

[Glen Romine]

I would prefer to think that a police officer in Oklahoma City will spend that time training on things that will more directly protect their lives and the lives of the public.

Hence clear justification for why training should be offered, as police often engage in road blocks for tornadoes expected to cross highways. Do you want the road blocked for a false report? Further, they have excellent communication systems, are able to communicate easily with emergency managers to know where to send emergency response vehicles as quickly as possible, and can warn at risk folks ahead of the tornado. They don't want to have to wait for a report from a chaser to go to the NWS and then have to dispatch a police unit to see if the report is accurate.

Chasers may provide redundant information on big days, and are probably more helpful to NWS folks than police reports, but during nocturnal events, when most chasers are looking for a Perkins, police may be the only folks still watching - and you'd want them to have at least a basic understanding of what they are watching for.

I'd also add that in smaller communities the locals will often get 'house calls' by police in advance of tornadoes when possible - which probably wouldn't happen if they didn't know where the tornadoes were and how to keep themselves, and others, out of harms way.

Glen

 

[Scott Roberts]

Re: storm spotter training

Originally posted by Craig Maire II
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?

I'd imply from your statement that you aren't an EMS person...especially one who is licensed/certified at more than one level. My wife is an RN and a Paramedic. At this point, she has to attend 30 hours per year of re-certification credit (at the cost of from 4-8 hours clock time for each recert hour) annually for her RN, and 60 hours every two yeas for her Paramedic (at the cost of 2-4 hours clock time per recert hour). In addition, she has class every two years in each of the following: CPR (6 clock hours), CPR Instructor (16 clock hours), ACLS (16 clock hours, I believe), PALS, (16 clock hours, I believe), and a couple of other acronyms she needs for her jobs.

Add to this the fact that she works nights at the hospital, and unless she's already working when her service hosts a spotter training class, she will probably miss it. She wants to get it every year, but averages once every three years.

You'd think she'd be the exception...but there are a lot more dual- (or triple-) certified people in the emergency medical service than most people realize. Each certification/licensure requires its own continuing education--very few of them cross over. And especially in small towns, they work EMS part-time, and something that pays a real wage full-time. Same as most small town fire departments.

IMO, the problem is not a lack of desire on the part of emergency responders. The biggest part of it is the evening schedule of the classes, which is designed for the general public. That means (in the case of Law Enforcement and full-time departments) pretty much all of second shift and night shift (7p-7a) is shut out, and those are the people working most frequently when storms hit.

Here at the TV station, when it comes to training, we have to have between 2 and 5 meetings on each topic before everyone is able to come. Even with two NWS spotting classes this year at the TV station, several of us will be going to KFDI for theirs next week, because we can't make either time here. And it wouldn't surprise me to see one or two people from KFDI at ours, like they were last year. And one or the other of us will have to send somebody to one of the public classes becase they still can't make it to one of ours.

IMO, the NWS WCMs don't have the time to do multiple classes in every county--at least not here. They're already out 3-4 nights a week for two months straight. On any given evening, there may be 4 spotter classes within 50 miles of my house. But there is only one daytime class all season that I'm aware of, any time from Feb 10 to May 1.

So while one key to increased outreach is having more times, there aren't enough trainers to have very many more times. I think it would be good if public emergency response agencies would get a person within their own organization trained each year in an NWS "train-the-trainer" session and hold their own classes. But then you do have training costs...paying the trainer during their training and the classes, paying the personnel to attend the classes (which you'd likely have to do if your agency is actually instructing the class and requiring attendance).

So we get by with having whoever volunteers to go to the free community training class. It's the best we have at the moment

 

[Tom Burgess]

Yes! We get more reports from fire/police than from the public. Some are good enough to be of use. Others make no sense. Main problem is we do not have direct contact so we only know what EOC passes on. Since training has been held more and more reports are useable. Each area is different though. Here flooding is the main problem.

 

[Kyle Masters]

One of the requirements, at least here in Turner County South Dakota, is that in order to maintain your job as a law enforcement officer, fire fighter, or ems tech you are required to attend a spotter class every two years to refine your skills.

 

[David Drummond]

Absolutely!! ANYONE that is going to be out spotting storms and making reports on them should be at least SKYWARN trained. I don't care who you are, or who your with! Would you expect to go fight fires, or criminals, or run EMS calls without some training? No. They shouldn't expect to be out spotting storms without some training as well.

There is one local law enforcement group that I have listened to when chasing in my area. Not a single one of them has the slightest CLUE even where the area of tornadic interest on the storm might be. I have listened to them a lot. One particular day a couple of years ago a nasty tornadic storm crossed this particular county and took 4 hours to do so. I heard them after a couple of hours tell the officers out there to stop one of the hundreds of chasers running around and see if they could get some help from the chasers.

If your gonna be making reports that affect the public, you need to KNOW what your looking at!

 

[StephenLevine]

Training Emergency Personnel

I have given a couple talks to American Red Cross chapters on what to look for and listen for during night time operations, when the hazards are the greatest.
I have found them to be extremely receptive, and was also surprised to discover that none of their personnel had equipment for picking up weather warnings/spotter nets, etc while out in the field.
Teaching them how to be aware of hidden flash floods, look for power flashes, listen to and perhaps learn how to participate in spotter nets, and be aware of certain cloud formations illumned by lightning in my view is very important and one day could help save lives.

 

[Doug Lee]

You can add my vote in favor of emergency personnel going through Skywarn spotter training. I have two reasons:

1. They can prepare to perform their duties by recognizing for themselves when and where severe weather has or could hit.

2. They have the communication systems to pass on reports, and they often talk directly to the people that sound the sirens.

I don't believe that all emergency personnel should be involved in spotting all the time. Whenever one does see something, that person should be able to accurately report what was seen.

I realize that many emergency personnel have heavy load of continuing education classes to take, and attending an additional class could be a burden. An alternative would be to view the TESSA training video.

I do have some issues with how I have seen Skywarn training conducted, but I will save that for another thread.