After the Storm

A sunny, humid afternoon is deteriorating rapidly. The area is now getting battered by high wind, and severe weather watches for the county have evolved into warnings. The station TV is on, the live radar looking ominously maroon, and the Attack One crew watches and waits for the tones to start. The winds begin to rattle the doors, followed by the pounding of hail on the roof of the equipment bay.

It’s time to shelter in the station, and the crew makes its way to an interior room with cinderblock walls. They open up the radio scanner and listen as emergency traffic increases, first in the southwest part of the county, then moving up toward Attack One’s service area. Alarms give way to wires down, which become trees down, and then buildings damaged.

The Attack One crew leader recognizes this pattern of destruction and suggests the crew prepare for an evening of weather-related emergencies. As soon as they leave their shelter area, they will load up their apparatus with extra clothes, snacks, water and the multiple-casualty incident packs from the station. They will need two extra batteries for each radio and extra batteries for flashlights. They topped off the gasoline in the station’s emergency generator early in the afternoon, and have made sure all linens are cleaned, laundry completed and the vehicle fully stocked with medical equipment.

The power at the station soon fails, and the room where the crew is sheltering grows as dark as the skies outside. Before the hail stops, an ominous message comes from the officer assigned to the central communications center. Sounding the emergency tones for all agencies, the officer announces that “significant destruction” is occurring on a path through the county, and all units are to begin assessments of their response districts as soon as the weather clears.

The Attack One crew members exchange calls and text messages with their family members as they wait for the winds and hail to stop, and it appears all families are in good shape as the storm finally begins to move on. When the hail quits banging the roof, the crews all move toward the apparatus bay, manually open the doors and take in the relatively mild damage outside. There are piles of hail, a few downed trees and lots of blown debris, including what appears to be insulation material. The station is intact, but the parked vehicles outside are hail-dented. The sky to the north now has an awful green coloration as the storm line moves away.

The battalion chief for the area comes over the dispatch frequency to assign sectors for each crew in the area to assess. All crews are warned to stay away from live wires, be aware of street debris that could flatten tires, maintain accountability and report to him any significant structural damage. Attack One is assigned to contact the hospital and be prepared to serve as liaison with the emergency department.

The Attack One crew members load their vehicle and move toward their assigned sector. As they do, the paramedic contacts the emergency department. The lead physician there reports the hospital is intact, but power has failed and they are operating on generators. There are no casualties, the emergency department has been almost completely cleared of patients, and emergency staff has been asked to report back to the hospital. Hospital leaders are preparing for multiple casualties but have adequate staffing. Phone service is irregular, and the physician asks if they can be updated regularly by radio of damage in the community.

Suddenly, the county communications officer sets off the disaster tones and announces that the 9-1-1 center has received numerous calls regarding tornado damage in the area just east of Attack One’s station, and the center is moving into its emergency operations mode. The area is directly where Attack One was already assigned, so they proceed directly there, with an additional first alarm fire assignment of engines, ladder trucks, two ambulances and a battalion chief.