Stay prepared for the ‘un-seasons’ Published Jan. 19, 2011 By Staff Sgt. Aaron Price Burnley 375th Civil Engineer Squadron Emergency Management SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- At 2 p.m. this past New Years Eve, a three-to-five minute wavering tone came across the St. Clair County and Scott Air Force Base Notification and Warning Systems. A storm system had moved into the area, already rocking parts of Missouri, creating devastation as tornadoes were touching down throughout the region. About two hours prior I had gone to my back porch and noticed that it was unseasonably warm for this time of year, about 60 degrees. I looked at the sky and it was a bit overcast, but the clouds were moving slow and nothing was out of the ordinary. A week prior to this, my little girl woke me up and we went down stairs so I could start her breakfast. She asked, "Daddy, where is the snow?" I told her, "Baby girl, sometimes it does not snow when Santa is about to make his rounds." The sun was beaming that morning. Well, three hours later we built a six-foot tall snowman. The snow started falling and sticking to the grass, then it rained, then it snowed some more and made about three inches of great packable snow. What do these two little stories mean you may ask? Well this region is known for mainly ice during this time of year. So why the great packable snow that soon turned into black ice and overflow melting of low lying areas. And with that being said, tornadoes on New Years Eve? What? Really? Yes, really. This area of the country is susceptible to many types of natural occurrences at any time of the year. However, as a base populace, you have a great amount of resources at your fingertips when it comes to protective information and actions; whether it is natural or man-made disasters. Every unit on base has Emergency Management representatives who work closely with their facility managers to ensure on-duty personnel, that being workers and customers, are able to take proper protective measures in the event of a disaster on-base. At the same time, the Airman and Family Readiness Center and the First Term Airman Center pass on to our new Team Scott arrivals the protective measures needed to be in-place to protect you and your loved ones in the event of a disaster. What we as the installation Emergency Management flight would like to impress upon you is to always be prepared. It is up to every individual to know and understand their facility's Natural Disaster Sheltering Plan, Hazardous Materials Shelter-in-Place plan, and Emergency Evacuation Plans. In addition, we suggest implementing these procedures into unit safety briefings and newcomers packets, as well as, quarterly drills as your command and control sees fit so as not to disrupt mission continuation. I heeded the storm that day, not necessarily from the tornadoes, but more from my 3-year-old little girl continually questioning me about why she could not look out the window. I also had to explain why her snowman and his carrot nose were not in the front yard anymore. We all do that, have done that and hopefully can continue to do that every year no matter what Mother Nature throws at us. We will continue this as a team because we will meet the challenges by staying alert, staying informed and staying prepared to protect ourselves and those who count on us every day. For more information, contact the Emergency Management flight at 256-4831.