OZARK, Ark. -- A storm-warning system named Code Red is just one of several enhancements to Franklin County emergency services that resulted in part from the deadly tornadoes that struck Franklin and Johnson counties in May 2011.
Four people died the night of the storms, the first of which touched down in Franklin County just before midnight May 25, and a fifth person died of storm-related injuries about three weeks later. Hundreds of homes in the two counties were destroyed or heavily damaged.
Fred Mullen, director of the Franklin County Office of Emergency Management, said many warning systems already were in place -- advance newspaper reports, local radio announcements, TV station alerts, National Weather Service alerts, even emails he sent to officials and any citizen who requested them.
Despite all that, the first person he talked to after the disaster complained to him that they had not been warned.
Code Red, Mullen said, is an emergency warning service that includes an optional storm-warning component -- one more way for people to make sure they receive the warnings they want.
While his office can use the system to alert citizens about a variety of emergencies -- such as a lost child or a hazardous-material spill -- the weather alerts come from Code Red, not his office, and are a separate but free subscriber service.
"It's a severe-weather warning service that intercepts the signal from the (National) Weather Service, and it will automatically call your home, or your cell phone ... and warn you," Mullen said.
Warnings calls go to those who are in the path of an approaching storm. And because the service is locally focused, Mullen said, people in the county might be more inclined to subscribe to it than to a national service.
Subscribing is quick and easy to set up online at his office's website, http://fcoem.wordpress.com, Mullen said. From the homepage, click Code Red, then click the link provided. On the resulting enrollment page, users can choose which warnings they want to receive -- tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood -- and at which phone numbers.
After getting approval from the Franklin County Quorum Court, Mullen contracted with a Florida firm for Code Red at a rate of $13,000 per year. The service began in April and already has 400 subscribers, he said.
Service Saved Lives
Josh Johnston, director of the Johnson County Department of Emergency Management, said his county has used Code Red for about three years and he is convinced of its value.
"I really believe it saved lives," Johnston said. "It was a midnight storm, and it was making the phone calls. We've had people contact us to say thank you because they got the call and took shelter in an inner room. ... There was no time to leave their homes, and actually it would've been more dangerous to leave."
Johnson County residents can enroll in the service at www.jcdem.org. Clicking the Code Red icon will send the user directly to the enrollment page. Johnston said the system has 2,500 household subscribers.
Equipment Upgrades
In Franklin County, the improvements didn't stop with Code Red.
Randy Boren, Franklin County Emergency Medical Services director and 911 coordinator, said his office is working with the Sheriff's Department to buy military surplus vehicles and equipment -- including a mass-casualty incident trailer -- at significantly reduced costs.
"We've acquired more equipment in the past six months than we normally could have bought over the last couple of years," Boren said.
He estimated about $9,000 has been spent on surplus items that would have cost $400,000 if new, including three vehicles that would have cost $115,000 total.
To better use specialized personnel and equipment, Boren said agencies and departments are coordinating county response teams consisting of one paramedic and a firefighter or police officer.
Franklin County EMS oversaw 20 hospital transports the night of the storm and treated 100 "walking wounded," Boren said. The next day, a doctor donated his services to operate a pair of walk-in clinics in Altus and Etna.
One of Boren's goals is to be able to set up a hospital tent, so medical services can be handled at one site without need of moving equipment back and forth.
Also in the past year, Mullen said he used $35,000 in grant money to buy rescue equipment for three fire departments where the need was greatest -- at Barnes, in the northern part of the county, Ozark in the central section and Cecil in the north central part.
"At the extreme south end, Charleston, they have very good rescue leadership and equipment," Mullen said, adding that as more money becomes available he'll provide for Altus to the east and Pleasant View to the west.
In the face of budget constraints -- all county departments including the OEM and EMS had to trim their budgets by 12.5 percent -- Mullen said he and his colleagues have become "pretty accomplished scroungers," and he managed to acquire three campers for emergency use that were offered for the taking.
"You can't be perfect, but you can be excellent," he said.
Copyright 2012 - Times Record, Fort Smith, Ark.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
