Let’s discuss a couple of the most important issues regarding opening a community shelter/safe room to the public and that is when and who opens the shelter/safe room?
First, let’s exam the difference between a tornado WATCH and a tornado WARNING. A tornado watch simply means that the National Weather Service (NWS) has analyzed the conditions in any given area and have determined that the conditions may be conducive for tornadic activity. The watches can cover a fairly broad area and time frame. A tornado warning means that either the NWS has determined by radar that a tornado may be forming, or a tornado or funnel cloud (tornado that has not reached to the ground) has been spotted by law enforcement, trained spotter, and/or the general public. Simply stated;
- Tornado Watch – Be aware there COULD be a tornado
- Tornado Warning – THERE’S A TORNADO!!!!
There are those in the general public that get really nervous when there is a tornado watch and more so when there is a thunder storm associated with that watch area. They want to be somewhere they know they are safe in case of a tornado. And on the contrary, there are some that when there is a tornado warning issued, they grab their camera and run outside! (Let’s leave that to the storm chasers and another blog!) Point being is everyone is different and if you are going to open a shelter/safe room to the public, then you need to consider when someone may show up to take advantage of the shelter/safe room. In the past, FEMA has suggested that shelter/safe rooms are opened at the time that a tornado watch is issued.
Who opens the shelter/safe room? It really doesn’t matter, what matters is the shelter/safe room is open when people show up! The owner of the shelter/safe room should establish who is going to open the shelter/safe room, and that should NOT be one person! I would suggest that there are at least 4-5 people designated to open a shelter/safe room at any given site so there is some redundancy. Those people need to communicate with one another on a regular basis. This was a problem in a recent event where one individual was slated to open a shelter/safe room and did not realize there was a tornado warning! That left 4 people standing outside one of the community shelter/safe room watching the tornado rip through their town. THEY WERE LUCKY!
When should it open? If you are committing to opening the shelter/safe room to the public then it is YOUR responsibility to have that shelter/safe room open and available to those that you have promised the use of the shelter/safe room. NOAA states currently that the average warning prior to the tornado showing up at your door step is 13 minutes. That is an AVERAGE! In my humble opinion, at the very LATEST, the doors to the shelter/safe room should be open at the exact moment a tornado warning is issued…no later! Earlier would be better!!! If the shelter/safe room is not open when people show up, do they know for a fact that the shelter/safe room IS going to be open? Do they wait until someone shows up or should they go ahead and seek shelter elsewhere thus exposing themselves even more to the event? These are all questions that could take time to answer in one’s mind and could cost them their life!
Finally, who and when the shelter/safe room is going to be opened needs to be communicated with the public on a regular basis. Not just once! New people move into communities all the time and they need to be informed! There should be a system in place for this.
If you cannot fulfill these shelter/safe room management requirements, then you need to think long and hard whether or not to open your shelter/safe room to the public. Your good intentions conducted poorly could actually cost someone their life. What a travesty that would be!
Be careful out there!