News

While the area dealt with a protracted winter, the rapid onset of spring and its associated severe weather has started in the Midwest, Southeast and even as close as the Central Maryland Region. Within the past several weeks devastating tornados and torrential flooding have impacted millions of lives. With this in mind, Millville VFC Fire Chief Doug Scott wants to remind both residents and area businesses that being prepared is number one. “One of the tools in the tool box for early warning of severe weather is a NOAA All Hazards Alert Radio with S.A.M.E. technology” said Chief Scott.  S.A.M.E. stands for Specific Area Message Encoding. Much like the pagers that members of the area fire services carry, these are radio receivers that are “activated” when a special tone is sent by the National Weather Service. When setting up the receiver, a person would select the specific warning area, in this case Sussex County, as the specific alert area. When severe weather approaches, the National Weather Service Office in Mt Holly New Jersey, by use of a tower in Lewes DE, would activate the tone and the radios would “open up” and begin giving specific information about the approaching storm as well as possible impacted areas.

“Time is of the essence with these spring and summer weather events” reiterated Chief Scott. Many times people are outside with friends and family and may have a delay in making it to shelter before weather strikes. “We encourage not only families but our area businesses to discuss the “what if” scenarios” and plan accordingly.” There are two simple but potentially lifesaving sayings and they are: When It Roars Go Indoors as well as Turn Around Don’t Drown. “All I am asking is that the folks in the area be prepared and follow some basic safety tenants.”   NOAA All Hazards Alert Radios with S.A.M.E. technology can be purchased at many local retailers for nominal costs.   Additional information about Emergency Preparation can be found at the Sussex County website:  www.sussexcountyde.gov then go to the Citizens tab and look for Emergency Preparedness.