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The Calcasieu Parish Office of Emergency
Preparedness was recognized nationally recently for
its innovative use of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration weather radio system.
OEP Director, Dick Gremillion, traveled to
Washington with Steve Rinard, meteorologist in
charge with the National Weather Service, to receive
the Mark Trail Award.
He said the Calcasieu Parish OEP received the award
for using the weather radio system to warn the
public of other emergencies, as well as weather
bulletins. The OEP has partnered with the NWS
to provide additional ways to alert the public to
emergencies over the past five or six years.
“We realized the National Weather Service was a good
resource,” Gremillion said.
“The reason for the weather radio is mainly as a
warning mechanism to alert the public for severe and
dangerous weather,” Rinard added. “In working with
OEP, we devised a procedure to alert the public in
the case of a shelter-in-place. One of the problems
we had was to get the information out as rapidly and
accurately as possible. We needed a mechanism to
quickly alert the media and general public to a
shelter-in-place.”
The weather radio can also be used for the Amber
Alert system, which is used to alert the public of
missing or abducted children.
Rinard and Gremillion said they were both made aware
that their use of the system is one of a kind in the
country. “I think it shows the type of initiatives
we have working together in Southwest Louisiana,”
Gremillion said. “The award went to us, but is
really typical of what we do with other agencies
around the area. We’re always happy to hear we’re
leading the way.”
Congratulations Dick and the OEP staff for receiving
this award.
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