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Just a rant about our Emergency Weather Warning System
We live in a small community of 1900+ citizens. Before I joined, my chief along with other members of the department, went before the city council to warn them that the EWWS's back up generator had a cracked block. This discussion was in the summer of 2012. It was swept under the rug. This generator is crucial to the department and the city office, but also to the community. In January, with tornado season just around the corner, our financial advisor, who is also on the council, brought up this discussion again to the mayor, city manager, and public works administrator along with the members of the council. Once again it was swept under the rug. Some members of the council were shocked to learn that if the power went out in town, the citizens would be with out an EWWS. (We have two sirens that are across town from each other so the whole town including those within 3 miles of town can hear it. Our greatest fear is that the power will go out and we will not have a way to warn the citizens.) One member's jaw almost hit the floor. The mayor looked at the city manager, the city manager then looked at the public works guy, and he looked at the chief and said "pull it out of your general funds budget". Just like that they walk off. "Well they cut that budget last year" shouts our advisor. The public works guy slowly walks over to him and says that he'll take care of it. Yeah after he cleans up a huge mess of a drainage system they "built" west of town. Sorry! Off tangent!
The fact of the matter is, the department cannot fix or buy a new generator. The city recently as of a few years has built a city storm shelter. It only holds 350 of 1900+ people. Now I'm not an expert, but that math may be a little off. Are 350 people more important than the other 1550+ people. And how safe is this above ground shelter, with it's natural gas generator and it's empty supply shelves? Well they do have about 100 cases of berry and fruit flavored water. Yuck! But I guess if your thirsty you'll drink anything. It is supposed to be there for sick, elderly and children. But I guarantee you that the Mayor and City Manager will be there first. But then again, how will they know if the power goes out and the EWWS does not work.
Honestly, I think that the tax payers money should have gone to other things like, a new generator for the EWWS, or the city's general fund, or maybe raises to the city employees who bust their asses everyday for minimum wage! Not the 3 iPhone 5 they just bought for the office employees, which should have gone to the LEO's direction. Flip phones for everyone else that doesn't matter! Not the stupid fountain, oh yeah, pavilion,( fountain was sent to the backburner due to the drought,) that no one uses and came just a few years after the 100 year anniversary for the 100 year anniversary of the town's founding. Or the lets make our city beautiful by wrecking up our downtown area and making it more difficult to find a parking spot. but then again, no one ever comes to this lil West Texas town, so there's plenty of spaces. Confused? Yeah me too. Its very late, and I'm very sleepy... Sorry off tangent again. But really!
Our town had a near miss to a F4 tornado in May 05. The EWWS was on the grid until the tornado hit a sub-station and took out 5 miles of powerlines. Our generator was there to warn the citizens, but it was a close call. I pray that it doesn't happen again, but if it does, is the Department to blame? After all, it is the FD to sound the alarm. The citizens really don't know what is going on. No one ever shows to the council meetings. Everyone thinks that they can depend on the local news for info, but at what cost. The fire department or sheriff's department are the ones who usually let the weather service or local news know if a touch down has happened. How would they know if the power went out again?
So what are we to do?
Who is to blame if such a disaster hits us again?
Are there grants to help us out with such a problem?
Should I go on Facebook and warn Members of my community?
So many questions...So little time... So little money!
Sorry for going on and on, but I need to know what to do. No one else is doing anything, so I figured I'd fish for some answers.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on
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I don't disagree that you have a problem there, but is posting what you did here on an open public forum going to help you and your department if your comunity leaders see this, or hurt you?
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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I agree with Don that posting here probably will not help. No one on FFN can advise your so-called emergency management heirarchy on what to do.
I know it sounds pessimistic, but sounds like your only options at this point are to wait until the mayor's house gets blown away or move to a safer place - one where there are no tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, etc...
You and your desire may be the best thing your town has going for it in this regard. Keep your chin up and keep on pushing for a solution through the department.
Maybe you could start by circulating information to the community about situational awareness and self-reliance when the weather gets bad. Advise everyone to have their own personal and family survival plan.
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Permalink Reply by Dylan Ferguson on
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First off Im sorry that you find yourself in this situation. If your department is a municipal department (which it sounds like you are) the ending liability is going to lye with the city. However the command staff of the fire department are going to be dragged into it, becuase they were given direction by the city manager practical or not to fix the problem. I understand you dont have the budget for it but the courts arent going to care. So while the city is going to be primarily responsible for failing to provide adequate funds for the warning system there is plenty of liability to go around. But the bigger legal question is does state law require a warning system. If there is no legal requirement either direct or indirect then they city cant be punished for having something that is not required. In terms of grants you could potentially use an AFG grant for it, but your chances would be limited I would imagine with this type of project. I would contact someone in your state emergency management office to assist in seeking out other grant opportunities. As for facebook and warning your community, if you did anything I would suggest an informational press release explaining something like this "in the event of a power outage the warning sirens will not function , then follow up with that the city is aware of the situation and we are working towards a solution. We will inform you when the situation has been resolved" This takes care of 2 things most importantly it informs the public, and 2 it does so in a way that will not throw the city council (the people who control your budget) under the bus. Think of it as a the politicially correct way to put out the information.
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Permalink Reply by Gabriel Cavazos on
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On Friday afternoon I had a very long conversation with our city manager. We spoke a lot on the generator topic, but mainly on how my department need to change. I go in asking one thing and leave questioning things I wouldn't have ever questioned. The city was supposed to bring it up in last nights meeting, however, the city pool was the hot topic putting the generator on the backburner again. A new generator can cost the city up to 45000. I told our city manager about this govliquidation.com which has a lot of generators up for bid. Plus parts for our brush trucks. He seemed interested in what I had to say. Maybe we will soon get what we all need.
To Norm: I hope a tornado doesn't hit his house because I live not more than a block from his house. That would really suck! Seeing that I just had it built this year.
Thanks for all the help guys.
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Oops! Since you live so close to the mayor, I'll take back that comment.
That makes you guys buds, right? Sorry...
Good luck working those issues out. Hope your town stays safe.
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Permalink Reply by ashfire on
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After what I read your second post, I would check government surplus for generators. I have seen some of our other depts. in our county that bought surplus military generators for their stations before the county government realized that many of the county stations sat in the dark when the power went out, over the years.
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