Interesting Siren Test

I think the last one we had was in February. Others were cancelled due to clouds or potential bad weather. April's test was scheduled for the day after the Arlington Tornado. All the sirens worked fine the day before and no need to further terrify the public. July's test would have been on the 4th. August 1st: We had a good turn out of observers, both amateur radio and those reporting in by phone. A/C test: everything okay. Battery backup test: Test starts. I can hear a siren coming through an open phone line that was supposed to be put on "mute" by the observer.  A couple of seconds into the test. Observer: "Siren xx." That's unusual.  "Go ahead Siren xx." "Smoke is pouring from the box." Never had THAT happen before. I look at Irish (head of OEM) sitting a few feet away taking the phone reports today. Me to observer: "Do  you see flames?" "No." Irish says they will have someone in route immediately. I pass that info on. One of the OEM guys is out observing a different siren a few minutes away and immediately heads to check it out. I find out later that Dispatch was also monitoring and could have immediately dispatched a fire unit but don't know whether they did. One of the batteries apparently exploded due to heat and lack of water so that when the signal went out to start the battery test, it worked a second or 2 then went Pop, spraying battery acid and smoke throughout and out of the battery box. Hopefully my observer wasn't close by. If they are smart they have returned to their cars some distance away still within line-of-sight with windows UP. Sirens are REALLY loud.

Another Unexpected Honor

Arlington Volunteer of the Month

OFFICIAL Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2012

 

Arlington Fire Department Volunteer Awarded State Honor

Linda McMillen, an Arlington Fire Department Office of Emergency Management Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteer, was awarded the second annual Jack Colley Award for Volunteerism last month at the annual Texas Unites Citizen Corps/Volunteers Organizations Active in Disaster Conference.  The award was presented by Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Penny Redington, executive director of the Texas Association of Regional Councils.

The award honors an outstanding volunteer who exhibits leadership, dedication, self-sacrifice and service to the State of Texas in the field of emergency management. This statewide recognition is the highest honor presented to a volunteer by the state’s Citizen Corps Program.

McMillen has been instrumental to the success of the Arlington CERT program since 2007. During her time with the CERT program, she has participated in numerous training classes, exercises and emergency responses. McMillen was vital to the response following the April 3 tornadoes through the organization of more than 40 volunteers to support the Arlington Emergency Operations Center and the city’s Tornado Recovery Center.  She also participates in several monthly tests of the outdoor warning system and represents the Arlington EOC on the Tarrant County RACES radio net.  McMillen has volunteered in many special events and EOC activations, including the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl XLV and a full-scale exercise at Cowboys Stadium.

The Jack Colley Leadership Award was established in honor of Jack Colley, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management from 1998-2010, for his unwavering support, dedication, and service to the citizens of Texas during times of crises and for his outstanding leadership in the profession of emergency management. The award is given annually to recognize the outstanding leadership and service of a Citizen Corps volunteer.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Rodriguez

Manager | Office of Communication

Rebecca Rodriguez

Marketing Communications Manager | Office of Communication

 

101 West Abram Street, Arlington, TX 76010 | P.O. Box 90231 MS 01-0370, Arlington, TX 7600-3231

office: 817.459.6412 email: Rebecca.Rodriguez@arlingtontx.gov

 

********

And with this I suspect my 15 minutes of fame are also officially over. 

On the 4th I served as Net Control for a couple of dozen hams who were assigned along Arlington's huge 4th of July Parade Route out of the Tarrant County RACES van, which was nicely air conditioned! With 135 something entries, the first units had returned to the UTA Parking lot before the last of the entries had left.  Parade started at 9am and the last unit returned around 11:00. Other than a couple of minor medical issues and a stalled vehicle, the Parade was incident free - just like we like it!

* * Received 2012 Jack Colley Leadership Award * *

Link to Article posted on the City of Arlington website.

I was surprised, humbled and very honored just to have been nominated by the Arlington Office of Emergency Management for this recognition. I was absolutely stunned when I learned that I had been selected to receive the 2012 Jack Colley Citizen Corps Leadership Award for volunteerism (related to disaster preparedness and/or response) in the State of Texas. “This statewide recognition is the highest honor bestowed upon a council or volunteer by the state's Citizen Corps Council,” said Julie Martinez, Texas Citizen Corps manager. "This Award was established in honor of Jack Colley, who served as director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management for more than a decade before his death in 2010."

I was presented with a plaque in honor of Jack Colley, an official Flag of the State of Texas that had been flown over the State Capitol a few days before (with accompanying certificate that als). My name will be added to a permanent plaque kept at the Texas Citizen Corps headquarters in Austin.

Receiving Award from Steve McCraw, Director of the Texas 

Department  of Public Safety, and Penny Redington, Executive Director

of the Texas Association of Regional Councils.

With Matt Feryan, Emergency Management Planner.  

Arlington Office of Emergency Management

L to R: Asst. Chief David Carroll - Fire Rescue Support Div., Matt Feryan - OEM
Irish Hancock - Administrator Office of Emergency Management, Me and
Arlington Fire Chief Don Crowson 

From the email sent to CERT members:

Linda McMillen, an Arlington Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteer, was awarded the second annual Jack Colley Award for Volunteerism last week in San Antonio. The prestigious Jack Colley Award honors an outstanding volunteer who exhibits leadership, dedication, self-sacrifice and service to the State of Texas in the field of emergency management, attributes personified by the late Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Jack Colley. This state-wide recognition is the highest honor bestowed upon a volunteer by the state's Citizen Corps Program. The award was presented by the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw, and Texas Association of Regional Councils Executive Director, Penny Redington, at the annual Texas Unites Citizen Corps/VOAD Conference on June 15. 

Award Description

The Jack Colley Leadership Award was established in honor of Jack Colley, Chief, Texas Division of Emergency Management, 1998 – 2010, for his unwavering support, dedication, and service to the citizens of Texas during times of crises; and for his outstanding leadership in the profession of emergency management. The award is given annually in his honor to recognize the outstanding leadership and service of a Citizen Corps volunteer.

Narrative from the award submission:

Since 2007, Ms. McMillen has been instrumental to the success of the Arlington CERT program and the Arlington Office of Emergency Management. Throughout her time with the CERT program Linda has participated in numerous trainings, exercises and emergency responses. Most recently, Linda was vital to the response following the April 3, 2012 EF-2 tornado that impacted the cities of Kennedale and Arlington. Her efforts organized the response of over 40 volunteers to support the Arlington Emergency Operations Center and the City’s Tornado Recovery Center. In total, Linda volunteered approximately 90 hours in a ten-day period to ensure a streamlined process of CERT volunteer management. Linda also regularly manages the ham radio net for Arlington’s monthly outdoor warning system test. Each month, Linda dedicates time to organize and assign volunteer radio operators to observe and report the status of the siren system. Additionally, Linda regularly responds to severe weather warnings and represents the Arlington EOC on the Tarrant County RACES radio net. Linda has been involved with major special event and natural disaster EOC activations which has included the NBA All-Star game, Super Bowl 45, Cotton Bowl, World Series, Tropical Storm Hermine and the April 2012 Tornado. Furthermore, Linda has participated in every major exercise sponsored by the City of Arlington which has included a full-scale exercise at the new Cowboy’s Stadium, a functional EOC exercise in preparation of Super Bowl 45 and numerous drills, tabletops and workshops in support of the Arlington Office of Emergency Management.

I remain totally overwhelmed and am still trying to wrap my mind around it. I truly did not expect this. Awards are not the reason I do volunteer work. I wanted to be active in the community and hopefully might add something productive and positive along the way. I have the time and get a great deal of personal satisfaction doing the things I get to do. I'm happy and gratified just to receive honest thank yous and the privilege of being allowed to continue to assist as I can. This .... this is overwhelming and I'm still trying to digest just how prestigious and just how high an honor it is.

My sincere and profound thank yous to the Texas Citizen Corps Council - their staff and representatives, the State of Texas Emergency Managment, Texas VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters), the City of Arlington Fire Department and the Office of Emergency Management. Again, I am deeply humbled and incredibly honored to have received the 2012 Jack Colley Leadership Award.

Wow! Nominated for an Award

I just found out I've been nominated by the the Arlington OEM for the 2012 Jack Colley Citizen Corps Award, the highest honor awarded to a Texas Citizen Corps volunteer and only the second year it is to be awarded. Recipient will be announced June 15th at the Texas Unites Conference in San Antonio.  Because so many other volunteers throughout the state put in so much more time and effort, I have no expectation whatsoever of "winning," nonetheless: Wow!

ARRL Article on NTx Tornadoes & Amateur Radio Response

http://www.arrl.org/news/north-texas-hams-respond-when-tornados-strike

Mentions me.

April 3rd Arlington, TX Tornado

Not only did my hard drive crash AGAIN a couple of weeks ago, I've been very busy helping out at the Office of Emergency Management as the result of the tornado in SW Arlington on 4/3. Two supercells developed exceedingly fast in Johnson County. Keith Wells of the Fort Worth/Tarrant County Joint EOC related later that one sweep the cloud tops were at 8,400 and the next they were over 15,000. Since that happened just south of Arlington/Fort Worth there was little advance warning time. I was watching the radar as a line of storms slowly moved in from the west. Suddenly 2 small "rain" areas popped up ahead of the line and exploded into separate supercells. I'd already called and given the EOC a heads up, in case they weren't already watching. I called back an amazingly few minutes later as funnels were already dropping just south of us. I asked if they wanted me at the EOC to handle the radios, "let me think." 3 minutes later I got the call back: YES!  ASIDE: Emergency Managers, EM Coordinators, and others were in San Antonio at an Emergency Manager Conference at the time. I don't know if it was my call to Gerry that something serious was about to pop that did it, or if others were already watching the weather reports that went from possibility of large hail to tornadoes on the ground in less than 15 minutes, but they immediately suspended the conference and set up a State Command Center on the floor of the Convention Center and handled their duties from that location. I was sitting at the intersection next to the OEM location when the sirens went off. My Dad intended to drive my car home to the garage he'd cleaned out (because of predicted large hail), but I told him FORGET THE CAR, YOU'RE COMING UP WITH ME!  (As I'm looking up to make sure something wasn't about to drop on top of us.) Very interesting experience. No time to be frightened, even when a spotter reported the circulation was right on top of our location. I was told a couple of days later that someone took a photo of a funnel only 1/4 mile from our location. If I had simply walked 50 feet into the lunchroom, I could have seen both the Arlington and Lancaster tornadoes live and in person. As I entered the EOC, Fire and Police and other City personnel were pouring into it. By the time the immediate danger was over, it was crammed full with organized chaos. Needing to stay out of the way and my RACES net control for the EOC over, I left around 5:45pm. Because I sit in a windowless office with a monitor way above my head tuned into WeatherTap and was otherwise focused on monitoring RACES traffic and reporting emergency events to staff, I was unaware there had been a tornado in Lancaster at the same time. I've only seen bits and pieces of the "news" since. The whole area was EXTREMELY fortunate. No deaths, very few serious injuries, the Arlington tornado missed 2 elementary schools and a huge high school by as little as 250 feet. I've heard from many fire, police, church and radio acquaintances that their homes were only a matter of feet from homes that suffered major damage. One CERT volunteer whose home was barely missed and lost several trees, repeatedly thanked the police for their prompt response - they were already checking for injuries, surveying damage and moving debris out of the streets within a minute or 2 after it had passed. Had the tornado continued on it's original path and not dissipated, it would have hit my neighborhood a minute or 2 later. Instead, it moved from a NNE path, to due north, then briefly NW, then due W as it died. There has been an over-abundance of volunteers (leaving hundreds of good-hearted citizens disappointed that there was nothing they were needed to do.) Nor were donations originally accepted. Later those were referred to Mission Arlington once a distribution plan was set up. Clothing was not accepted. The areas hit by the Arlington tornado were almost exclusively upper middle income and higher, thus most, if not all, are covered by insurance and though FEMA has been in to assess the damages, the likelihood of getting funds from FEMA is small. (They only cover non-insured expenses and the thresh hold is based upon a dollar amount on a per capita basis for the entire city / country, etc.)

The EOC was activated when funnels dropped in northern Johnson County. The large monitors were already tuned to WeatherTap and local news channels (which had helicopters broadcasting live as events unfolded, as well as monitoring the RACES net until I could get there. Fire and police that weren't already on the scene immediately converged on the damaged areas along with search & rescure. Damage assessment drive-bys were in process shortly thereafter.

The next morning: As for me, with a dead hard drive and concerned about receiving emails activating CERT volunteers, I called about 11 to find out if I had missed it. Instead, I was asked to come in to recruit and schedule CERT volunteers for both the Emergency Operations Center and the Tornado Recovery Center located at the Fire Training Center not far from the damage path. Subsequently, I have been at the EOC pretty much from 7am to 11pm (or later) every night through Sunday. Went home at 8pm on Monday. Now I'm preparing documentation for the OEM/EOC to determine how many different people and how many hours they've put in. So far volunteers have served a total of 219 hours at the EOC. At some point I'll figure out how many of those were mine - a bunch, anyway. As Volunteer Coordinator, I ended up sticking around in case something came up - which it frequently did, as in it was almost 4pm when I was asked to staff additional volunteers starting at 7 am the next morning - got it done!  I don't have the total hours for volunteers working at the TRC yet, but it was operational from 8am to 8pm Thursday through Sunday and closed at 6pm this Monday, with 2 to 4 volunteers per 4 hours shift.

I've been volunteering at the EOC since early 2006. This is the first time the EOC has been activated for a city emergency in that time. We called everyone on the phone lists, and I tried to schedule as many trained CERT volunteers as I possibly could as this is what we have been trained and ready for. It wasn't perfect, but for the first time it went remarkably well, and I can only thank those early volunteers who spent hours on the phone contacting other potential volunteers on behalf of the EOC while I had other organizational responsibilities and acted as liason - as well as making a lot of phone calls myself. Kudos to the whole CERT organization for stepping up when the time came. Kudos to the Arlington OEM/EOC staff, Fire, Police and other public and private agencies who quickly activated plans previously made and made on the spot changes and revisions as necessary. Great job everyone! Thank you!!!

www.arlingtontx.gov/tornado
http://pd.dfw.com/sp?aff=1100&keywords=+arlington+tornado&submit=Search

2011 Tornados

Caused the highest number of deaths (528) since 1925 despite all the progress that has been made in advanced warnings. Here's a one minute animation of the location of those tornadoes.