Could someone in the EMS/fire/responder community chime in as a professional to address these concerns that might dissuade a chaser from entering a fresh tornado damage path:
Let's get some basic training information out there dealing with each one of those items (procedures/best practices/etc.) If we get enough replies, I'll separate them into their own post and sticky it.
I think these comments would be a valuable addition from those in the professional emergency services community (active or retired), and I'll be eager to see what some of our fire, LE or EMS friends have to share. That having been said, whenever I've seen this discussed on social media, I've seen those in emergency services give vastly different opinions (that's not entirely unexpected) and even argue among themselves. I honestly think it's a YMMV (your mileage may vary) scenario and one that involves questions of ethics too.
Sharing my own personal experience, as some of you know, I was right behind the Discovery Channel crew as one of the first to arrive on scene in Yazoo City, MS in April 2010 right after the EF-4 tornado ravaged that community. We were initially just south of town on the hill overlooking the community when the rain wrapped tornado struck the southern portion of the city. In that instance, we chose to stop chasing, put down the cameras, and assist, and I don't necessarily regret doing so. That having been said, I was personally woefully unprepared for what transpired. I was not properly dressed at all, had an old pair of tennis shoes, and had no gloves. I stepped on nails and suffered several small splinters and abrasions. None of it was particularly severe and I didn't even require medical attention, though I returned home to a stern lecture from my physician about being deficient on my tetanus shot. Furthermore, the psychological trauma bothers me to this day, though I've never felt the need to seek therapy. There were numerous downed power lines that I still cannot be sure whether or not they were hot, not to mention ruptured gas lines. Victims were ambling around in a state of shock, themselves needed medical attention. Being an educator, I have a rudimentary background in some quintessential first aid procedures (e.g., bloodborne pathogen safety, CPR, and how to use an AED). However, I had no ability to deal directly with the spinal injuries, fractures, deep lacerations and other serious injuries I encountered. Cell phones were useless as the towers were down or overloaded. I share all of that not seeking any sort of praise, but just to share the reality that, beyond encountering minor structural damage, there are serious considerations for the untrained chaser in deciding how, when and where to go beyond just dialing 911 and leaving the rest to the professionals. For what it's worth, I always call 911, because there may be remote residences that would otherwise take longer for emergency workers to discover. Even though you may be contributing to 911 overload, better safe than sorry unless fire/ems/LE is already on scene.
There is an ethical question that might be a little beyond the scope of discussion, but for a litmus test, I always refer back to Jack Marshall's
Ethical Decision-Making Tools (click the text to read more) in facilitating a more nuanced discussion of what the ethically appropriate response might be in guiding one's own decision making in situations like this.
