‘A good concerned citizen’ donates generator to Weather Response Team

Like many of the storms the Poplar Bluff Severe Weather Response Team monitors, a donation came out of nowhere fast.

Director Craig Meador says local resident, Art Fisher, was a “good concerned citizen” kind enough to fill the team’s need for a generator. Fisher read Tuesday’s story in the DAR about the group’s efforts to finance the generator and responded.

The Poplar Bluff man is a former marshal in the city of Qulin and an acquaintance of Meador. Fisher found in his possession a brand new generator “just sitting there” and thought it would be “perfect for those guys” in the PBSWRT to use.

The group publicized its fundraising efforts in the article to get a backup generator for its command center. New backup equipment would mean the difference between Deputy Director Steve Seawright being able to continue to operate his systems when the power goes out, or being shut down at a crucial time.

The PBSWRT operates two base stations.

From the southern location, Meador can keep track of the radar, as well as coordinate by radio with spotters in the field, law enforcement and officials from surrounding counties and the National Weather Service.

Meador also has the capability of setting off storm sirens for the city of Poplar Bluff and Butler County.

He has a backup generator, but the northern station did not.

The northern command center provides additional support when a large storm system requires a greater number of spotters in the field and to ensure redundancy, should Meador’s station go down for some reason. It is operated by Seawright.

Meador and Seawright share the duties of staying in contact with field spotters, first responders and the NWS during storms.

Myers pointed out that the on-the-ground storm spotters’ reports are also critical to the NWS. Butler County is located at the farthest edge of the Paducah, Kentucky office’s radar coverage.

“The Poplar Bluff Severe Weather Response Team is an essential part of our community safety,” said Butler County Emergency Management Agency Director Robbie Myers. “Those individuals, they volunteer their time and resources to help us when storms are coming. Having command centers are an important part of that.”

Meador and PBSWRT are grateful for Fisher’s generosity and the tremendous amount of ongoing support received from the citizens of Butler County.