Sumner County Emergency Management Director James Fair

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Twenty years ago, Hollywood released “Twister” — a silly movie starring Helen Hunt glorifying tornados and storm chasing. A few years later, came the storm chasing reality shows. Soon there were the storm chasing websites. And then lately there’s Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook – social media sites making storm chasing all that more instantaneous.

Today, storm chasing is a phenomenon.

And that is much to the chagrin of Sumner County Emergency Management Director James Fair, who said storm chasers are not only a nuisance but are hindering the efforts of trained professionals, who are in the business of protecting the public.

A week ago on Tuesday, Sumner County was in a middle of a complex super cell storm system that had the potential of producing large killer tornados and other wacky weather events.

Sumner County also became a hot tourist destination for seasoned and amateur storm chasers.

“I would say we had a couple hundred in the county… at least,” Fair said about the April 26 storms. “It’s a phenomenon that seems to be growing each and every year. They come from everywhere.”

“And they are doing it for one reason… an adrenaline rush.”

Storm chasing is not a profitable operation, Fair continued. Basically, storm chasers make barely enough money to pay for gas. Their shtick is to get a website that features instant video and hope to get enough sponsorship money so they can buy a vehicle and enough equipment to chase storms.

“They plan their vacations around tornado season,” Fair said. “They can’t make a living chasing tornadoes. But for some reason, they get this thrill of chasing tornados.”

But Fair said here is what is happening. They are in the way of legitimate work of trained spotters and emergency personnel.

“They gum up the roads,” Fair said. “They will stop in the middle of a roadway and get out of the car to video or take pictures. Some won’t even pull off to the side.”

Sumner County Emergency personnel have a system in place in which several agencies and volunteers work together during a potentially crisis situation. Trained spotters are located in specific locations across the county and are in constant communication with one another. Emergency personnel will move equipment to specific locations to respond to a potential disaster that is affecting great numbers of people. For example, Wellington fire/EMS equipment will be moved into a remote location so that if a tornado hits Wellington, then the equipment can go into town to start the recovery effort.

Here is the problem. When thrill-seeking storm chasers are out and about and they stop in the middle of a storm on a highway to shoot video or pictures, they block valuable access for emergency vehicles.

“They don’t have the equipment to save someone,” Fair said. “They don’t have the expertise to save someone.”

Plus, some storm chasers are reckless – driving down paved and dirt – in excess speeds of 90 to 100 mph.

Last week, Sumner County was in the middle of a complex storm system, where two frontal storms were colliding. A low pressure cold front was established in Colorado and was heading east, bumping into mid-level winds from warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. The combination of the two is what gives emergency personnel gray hair.

As it turned out thankfully, Sumner County was spared of the treacherous storms. There was plenty of rainfall – ranging from a half-inch to two inches across Sumner County. And there was some hail, but it was isolated to specific parts of western Sumner County.

Fair said there are two types of people during storm situations. Those who hunker down and those who go chase tornados. It has always been like that. But the new phenomena of the storm chasing industry, which has been largely inflated by social media, has complicated things even further.

Fair said another ramification from these storm chasers is they add to the hysteria of some people – who are already worked up because of their fear of storms. It’s like that accident on the highway. You know you shouldn’t look, but can’t help it.

“People need to understand, whatever falls out of the sky is going to fall out of the sky,” Fair said. “And there is nothing you can do about it. So the best thing you can do is be prepared. Find yourself a safe location and stay put.”

And, perhaps, stop watching storm chasers – who are there to not only put themselves with adrenaline, but pump you full of adrenaline as well.

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