MARION, IL. (KFVS) – Heartland First Responders hope a natural disaster doesn’t hit our area. But if one does, they want to be prepared for whatever happens.
That’s why they came together Wednesday for the annual Weather the Storm conference at the Pavilion in Marion.
200 first responders and EMA personnel from Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana gathered to learn from each other and share lessons on how to better to respond to earthquakes, tornadoes and other disasters.
“If you look at the number of billion dollar storms we’ve had in the last 20 years, every year that number has increased.” Said Arien Herrmann is the Administrator for Shawnee Preparedness and Response Coalition
Herrmann tells me the goal for this conference is to build a more resilient region.
“So, the purpose of the weathering the storm conference is to bring first responders, emergency managers, people involved in the disaster preparedness community together under one roof to network, share ideas, and then attend all the various sessions that we have scheduled throughout the day.” Said Herrmann
The events Keynote Speaker Tania Glenn has responded to the World Trade Center attack, Oklahoma City bombing and most recently the Uvalde school shooting.
Glenn hopes that those who attended today can build their resilience and have hope.
“I really love to use those experiences as ways to help folks not make the same mistakes and also to be armed with the tools and the resources and the means to do a great job if something happens tomorrow.” Said Glenn
Glenn says crisis and disaster puts first responders under a great deal of pressure.
“And we’ve seen a lot of folks come through but not necessarily unscathed. So between home life and work life what we have to do is we have to 100% focus on the resilience of our first responders to make sure that they can continue in their career.” Said Glenn
And with most recently the Mayfield Tornado in December of 2021, Herrmann predicts more powerful storms will strike our region.
“Because of whatever you want to call it climate change, global warming, man made, not man made, doesn’t really matter. We’re seeing very dangerous trends for fire seasons, they’re starting earlier and lasting longer. And are growing into places that traditionally never saw wild land fires.” Said Herrmann
Herrmann says the same thing with droughts, flooding, tornadoes, all of these severe weather events or disasters that are caused indirectly by weather are just growing and growing in severity.
He also mentions that this event will be back again next year for the 14th year they have this event.
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