In wake of disaster in Dundee, is Tecumseh prepared for a tornado strike?

By DEB WUETHRICH

There is one thing Tecumseh Fire Chief Joe Tuckey has learned through experience: disasters come in many shapes and forms and no two are exactly alike. The needs that arose in Dundee following a tornado this past spring could be different from those another community might face, though there would be some commonalities.

“I don’t know if you’re ever prepared for such a thing,” said Tuckey. “You can go through drills but when an incident occurs, you never know what might be needed.” He said the fire department does have plans and checklists to follow, however, with some of them being in the form of a notebook compiled by the county’s Emergency Management team.

Members of the Tecumseh Fire Department spent some time helping in Dundee after receiving a call from Lenawee County’s central dispatch. Monroe County had issued a request for more assistance.

“We went to the hotel by Cabela’s but the people were pretty much lined up waiting for the buses by then,” said Tuckey. “So we headed for the fire station. It took nearly an hour to go four blocks, because of all the trees and limbs in the road. There was a guy with a front end loader in front of us clearing up debris and not just a few limbs, but solid for the whole distance.”  He added that getting debris cleaned up is 90 percent of what’s involved in a disaster.

Tuckey said Dundee did a good job of coordinating what was needed, such as the buses being available to evacuate hotel residents and others to the middle school. If such an incident were to take place in Tecumseh, Tuckey said local resources would be utilized first, then, if needed, the county could set up an Emergency Operations Center.

“They would be ready to take care of things like rounding up buses, because I wouldn’t have time to be doing that,” said Tuckey.

One of the things that Tecumseh has been doing during tornado watches is to send trucks out to various points in the city. It’s a practice that more communities have adopted so essential vehicles won’t all be in the same place should disaster strike the station.

“The majority of our people are trained weather spotters, and we send a truck out on point at M-50 and Bramble, one of our high points, to spot under certain weather conditions,” said Tuckey. Trucks have also been stationed at Nakomis, and at Adrian and Russell. Firefighters have also been known to travel to such sites as Paul’s Trailer Court and other neighborhoods to make an announcement of a warning over a PA system, advising that residents seek cover.

“We do this less now that we have the sirens, because there’s better coverage now,” he said. City sirens are located at City Hall on Maumee Street, Brown Street at the Brookside Cemetery entrance, Southwestern Drive, and Patterson Street by the city’s wellhouse. Funds are currently being set aside toward the possible purchase of a fifth siren, at a cost of approximately $30,000, for the north side of the city. Tuckey said that no decision has yet been made as to whether the purchase will be made because the city is also looking at options such as phone alert systems.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about the sirens is that they are not intended to be heard inside the house, but to alert those outside that they should go inside and seek further information,” Tuckey said. “The best way to get weather information is to purchase a NOAA radio. They pretty much sit silent until there is a watch or a warning, except for a weekly test on Wednesdays. I keep mine in my bedroom, and I got one as a housewarming present for my daughter when she moved into her own condo.” The radios are available at most stores that sell electronics and also online and cost from $30-60. Tuckey said individuals should look to see if the radio is equipped with SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) technology and an “alert” mode, along with an AC power supply and battery in case of power outage.

The last time a tornado actually touched down in Tecumseh was the Palm Sunday tornado in 1965. But there have been other situations.

“We’ve had some close calls here, more from straight line winds than tornadoes,” said Tuckey. He recalls a few years ago when he was spotting out by the Riverbend Church and saw some debris fly by. “I knew something was coming, and a second storm closely followed the first. It was one of those times I wished I could be somewhere else.”
Residents can also do their part to help those out working during or following a storm, Tuckey said.

“They can stay off the streets. People should just stay inside. There’s always a chance there are power lines down that they can’t see, especially at night,” he said. “It’s always one of the hardest things, because people are curious and want to get out there and look at the damage, but there is a time and place for that. It’s dangerous enough for us to be out there and people need to let us just do our jobs.”

Another way residents can help themselves is to have a plan in place for what they will do or where they will go in case of emergency.

“Like some families practice fire drills, they can practice getting to a shelter and make sure that radios work, flashlights work, and have a water supply,” said Tuckey. “There is information about being prepared on such sites as ready.gov.” The site may also be accessed through tecfire86.com as well.

Through plans in place, Tecumseh would have options to call in 17 other fire departments from the county, the Lenawee County Tech Rescue team, and some out of county departments as well, if needed. Tuckey said that since 911, most areas operate under a unified command system, drawing on the expertise of various officials, depending on the scope of the situation being faced.

Besides weather disasters, the city is considered at high risk for chemical release incidents and officials prepare for that.

“People need to know that during such an incident, they could be evacuated and be prepared for that,” said Tuckey. One of his present tasks is to assemble some emergency plans specific to the city and its departments, with each having a role from declaring a disaster (by the mayor) to cleaning up debris (Dept. of Public Works and others). He said that police and firefighters would basically do what they train for all the time — search and rescue and responding to calls about downed power lines and limbs.

Tuckey considers Tecumseh extremely lucky during the storm that hit Dundee, because the National Weather Service tracked the storm right up the path of Sutton Road. He said that new technology in weather forecasting has changed how storms can be tracked, and with Doppler, even cloud rotations can be detected. This summer the area experienced five or six actual warnings, and Tuckey said it may be because of the advances in technology, along with a more keen alertness because of what happened in Dundee.

“Until you see house after house devastated like we did along M-50, you just can’t really believe it,” said Tuckey. “It’s not the same on TV. Once you see something like that, it changes your perspective.”