Community Spotlight

Using OK-First and Mesonet data during fires

Sep 28, 2010

Everyone that lives in Oklahoma knows that wildland fires are a fact of life. Before the introduction of the Mesonet to us we had to guess what the weather was going to do. Contacting the National Weather Service, for some reason, was not considered. As the Emergency Manager of the County I attend the large fires, and provide as much help as possible, we now have a tool that we use all the time. We access the Mesonet and get not only current conditions but look for fronts that are approaching that could mean a wind shift or a wind increase. Just recently we had an 1800 acre fire in the NE portion of the County. Wind was out of the SW at about 10 MPH. We constantly used the Mobile Mesonet to check on wind conditions. I want to thank everyone at OK-First and the Mesonet for your hard work in providing the products and information to us.

Harry Trottier, OCEM, CFM

McIntosh County EM

From Ed Kostiuk at OK Health Dept.

May 12, 2011

This was sent in by one of our County Health Dept. employees. While the storms sounded loud and did some wind damage on May 11, 2011 we really did not see any significant damage. I was able to use both Mesonet and Radarfirst to keep our employees informed. Here is what one State employee said:

Ed

Thank you for this report yesterday afternoon, it was dark and scary outside! My sister, who lives a block from Tushka School, is now very nervous when storms approach. She works 30 minutes east of Atoka and kept emailing me asking if the weather was getting bad in town. When I received your report, I forwarded it to her instantly. Little did you know, this was a godsend message. Not only did it calm the nerves of ACHD staff, but my sister replied that your email helped her and her co-workers tremendously. Keep up the good work and know that we in Atoka County appreciate you.