The need for an improved central hub to coordinate emergency response became all too evident later that month. In his 26 years as emergency management director — and seven years as a dispatcher in Moore before that — Gayland Kitch understands how much needs to be known, and quickly, when a crisis strikes.
“You’ve got to have information to make decisions,” Kitch said. “We understood the need, not because we’re Moore but because we’re in Oklahoma. More than once, we had to get dispatchers under their consoles [during a storm], and that’s when they’re needed the most.”
So since May 2014, both 911 dispatchers and the Emergency Operations Center have been bunkered down, literally, on 109 E. Main St.
The computer screens, televisions, generators, radios and anything else needed to communicate with the outside world have been inside what is basically one giant safe room.
There are windows in the break room, but even those are weather ready.
“They are FEMA-rated windows,” Kitch said about the several-inch thick panes of glass that are the only sources of natural light inside the operations center.
Upon first walking inside — past the offices of Kitch, Assistant Director Debra Wagner and Communications Supervisor Tammy Koehn — the trio’s main base of operations stands out. A large desk holds several computer screens that display radars, weather conditions and a map of all 39 of Moore’s emergency sirens that can be activated by a single button.
Kitch said siren No. 40 is set to be installed at Veterans Park.
Across from that desk is another station, with more computer screens, the views of cameras pointing to different parts in and outside of the building, and a direct link to the National Weather Service.
“During a full-blown weather watch, that’s my station,” Kitch said. “We pay attention to it all of the time. Normally, one of us will come down here when there’s a threat for severe weather. We usually know when storms are going to get bad.”
About a dozen televisions line two walls. The local stations are always on, plus “The Weather Channel,” network news and anything else relevant.
Below those are conference tables, each with a spot marked for a member of the city staff.
“If it’s a high-risk day, in my mind, then we may have the city manager, police chief and the fire chief,” Kitch said, “but we don’t do that very often.”
Computers are even built into conference tables. A smart board is situated on the wall for any presentations that need to be made, and projectors hanging from the ceilings can do the same on a large, blank wall.
Even with all of the technological advancements, a simplicity to the operations center remains. For example, when members of the Moore Police Department first got a look at it, they chose the conference table closest to the big white board in the corner, away from the bells and whistles.
There are multiple ways to communicate. Some are better than others, and Kitch understands this.
“We’ve got the high tech, and yet we’ve got the low tech,” he said. “We watch and learn. We knew we wanted a facility that would protect people in it so they could protect the people in our community.”
The center’s immunity to power outages sits in the next room: two large, diesel-powered generators can keep it running for several days, he said.
And it’s not only for weather events. In the event of a large explosion, chemical spill or fire, the Emergency Operations Center springs into action.
But in Oklahoma — and in Moore, particularly — it’s clear what kind of emergency the center is most equipped for. Born and raised in Kansas, Kitch, a former OU meteorology student, understands the tornado threat well and loves weather.
“I got interested in playing with radios, and that led me to a job as a dispatcher,” he said, “but I was still interested in weather. I was a volunteer spotter, even before school.”
So, in addition to the high-tech information hub protected by thick walls of concrete and steel, there’s a sort of observation deck at the top of the building, an elevated room with windows on three sides that faces the south.
Kitch said he enjoys observing the weather from there more than the way he used to do it on the roof of city hall, where 30 mph winds made sand and dirt feel like tiny needles.
And while he still gets excited by weather, years of seeing tornadoes ravage parts of his town have taken their toll.
“It’s a little different nowadays,” he said. “After the EF-5 in ‘99 and in ‘13, you start to cringe [when storms get bad]. The weather to me is still exciting. I still like looking at the clouds, but I don’t like seeing my community get destroyed.”
If anything, the Emergency Operations Center exists to make sure the long-lasting impact of bad weather is felt as little as possible.
“It’s all about situational awareness,” Kitch said.
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©2017 The Norman Transcript (Norman, Okla.)
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