Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Ald. Larry Rockford says it’s time for a new fire chief.
“You’re lucky nobody’s dead!” the alderman thundered at Springfield chief Nick Zummo (pictured), as Zummo explained why he did not activate storm sirens in last week’s damaging storm which was later classified as an EF-1 tornado.
In contrast, Wednesday’s weather is forecast to include a possible EF-3 tornado. That’s on a scale of one-to-five, five being the worst.
Zummo said there was no radar-indicated tornado in the area, winds did not exceed 70 mph, and no trained spotter reported a tornado. What’s more, the spotters who were sent out were dispatched at approximately the same time the tornado destroyed the Animal Protective League facility. Zummo added there are no national standards for when to activate a storm siren.
A citizen said if Athens or Chatham activate sirens, Springfield should, too. Ald. Jennifer Notariano noted the Trump administration has cut staff from the National Weather Service, prompting an audience member to utter an expletive and walk out. Ald. Shawn Gregory said the city must rely on more than just the National Weather Service, saying he would rather have sirens go off when there is not a storm than the other way around. Ald. Erin Conley said, on the other hand, activating sirens too often could create “alert fatigue;” that is, people could eventually stop taking the warnings seriously.
Chief utility engineer Scott Rogers defended CWLP‘s performance, saying crews cannot load trucks with replacement poles until they know what size poles are needed and where. He added the outage information system he wants is about $2-3 million away. The city has already said CWLP staffers must be off duty for eight hours following sixteen hours on duty. When workers are on and when they were off has been a subject of consternation on social media, but Gregory said he believes that’s just the frustration of workers who want to help more people.
As for Wednesday’s severe weather forecast, Zummo told the council the city’s emergency operations center will be manned starting at 5:30 a.m.