BY KEITH LIPPOLDT
klippoldt@gbtribune.com
This past Tuesday at the county commission meeting, Barton County Emergency Management Director Sean Kelly was standing before the commissioners asking for approval of a vehicle purchase to be used within his department. Upon approval, the conversation turned to the upcoming storm forecast to hit the state later that same evening.
After a weather question from a commissioner, Kelly replied, “We are going to get a great taste of Mother Nature. In the next 48 hours, we’re going to see that Kansas wind, because all 105 counties in the state are under Red Flag Warning today for low humidity, high winds and warm temperatures. Then we’re going to make a 90-degree swing and see blizzard like conditions for the Northwest portion of the state tonight. So we’ll be a little busy in the next 48 hours. It’s going to be a runaround for state resources and County EMS.”
Then a commissioner made the comment, “This is not an eight to five job, right?” Kelly’s response was, “It’s not, I’m on call and here to help. 24/7.”
Kelly started with the County in the Engineering Department in 2017. When he showed interest in the Assistant Emergency Manager position, he transferred to that department. He was hired as the Director in December of 2023. In the meantime, Kelly was part of the state’s Incident Support Team,
“My whole goal was to get into a field that I could help the community, and this was a really good opportunity for me. I’ve been a part of the state’s Incident Support Team, a deployable team that helps assist local jurisdictions with their disaster management, which prepped me for my current role.”
Although he is a one-person department, Kelly said he has great support from the 911 Director, Road and Bridge Department, the County Administration and County Commissioners. Kelly said that severe weather is a major part of his duty but it’s more than that. In addition to severe weather, the Emergency Management is responsible for Hazmat emergencies, wildfires and earthquakes. One of his main duties is to educate the public before, during and after the disaster.
“Emergency Management is an interesting beast in itself,” Kelly said. “Because while it sounds like we’re the managers of the emergency, we’re more of a managerial function to help with resource management, strategic planning, emergency operations center coordination, stuff like that. So we’re not the boots on the ground that typically control an incident or command an incident. We support the incident command. I was here at four o’clock Wednesday morning before we switched over from rain to snow to get ahead of what it was doing, and to talk to our road crews and state crews to see what their plans for things were. I’m very much involved well ahead of severe weather. So, I start monitoring a tornado outbreak. I’ll start watching for when the cells kick off in Oklahoma and just try to start talking to weather service and tracking where they’re going and what our threat levels are. Because the information I can get out quicker to the public and to our organizations and entities around the county is way beneficial for them to prepare.
“The five cycles for emergency management really is prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery efforts,” he said. “So my main focus is planning, assisting our local jurisdictions with their planning processes, and our emergency operations plan for the county.” And on days when there is no threat of weather, Kelly says he is “working through their plans. Looking for vulnerabilities. What our capabilities are, and then training - discussing with our local entities and organizations on how we can better, better plan and what they need.”
In the event of a potential outbreak of severe thunderstorms, high winds and tornadoes, Kelly relies on several entities to provide him with current information, including spotters, chasers and law enforcement personnel.
“We take information that we get coming through,” he said. “I monitor our radio traffic around the county, the information spotters put out, what National Weather Service is seeing, what I’m seeing, and what other EMS have seen below us or next to us. So it’s a whole combination of things that I’m monitoring, plus watching radar, making my own determinations too.”
NOAA and NWS concerns
The recent layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have raised significant concerns among meteorologists and the public alike. It’s been reported that nearly 2,500 jobs have been cut from NOAA, including positions within the National Weather Service (NWS), which is responsible for collecting crucial weather data. Experts warn that these cuts could lead to less accurate forecasts, delayed warnings, and increased risks for communities facing severe weather events.
Among those affected are meteorologists, forecasters, and technicians who operate weather monitoring equipment such as radars and weather balloons. The NWS provides essential data used by meteorologists nationwide, from local news stations to emergency services. Without this data, forecasts could become less reliable, potentially putting lives and property at risk. The loss of these employees represents nearly 20% of NOAA’s workforce, raising serious questions about the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission effectively.
Some say these gaps make it more difficult to accurately predict severe weather events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and snowstorms. All forecasting models rely on NWS data, and without it, the ability to issue timely warnings is compromised.
NOAA employees serve a wide range of functions, from studying extreme weather patterns to ensuring safe maritime navigation. The recent job cuts have targeted various positions, including probationary employees, those who accepted buyouts, and others dismissed in a wave of staffing reductions. Without timely storm warnings, communities may struggle to prepare adequately for dangerous weather events.
Kelly is aware of the ongoing cuts to staff but doesn’t believe it will impact our area as much as others.
“I am concerned if they go through with big cuts, but I don’t think they’re going to get rid of enough people to where it really hinders our abilities,” he said. “They’re a great resource to us for for preplanning, for events that are coming up. They offer a lot of great tools, and I don’t know if we’re going to get those if they don’t have the staff. If their funding comes down and they can’t send people out to do these trainings, it very well could affect us.
“They’ve got a lot of great tools and a lot of great people, and I hope they leave the public safety sector stuff alone. I don’t know if I can say that their capabilities are going to change.”
When asked about his spring and summer forecast, Kelly took an educated guess.
“I think it’s going to be dry,” he said. “The storm seasons seem to just get more volatile. I can’t make a great prediction on how bad the severe weather gets this year. They haven’t put us in a terrible wildfire outlook yet, but Saturday, we’re going to be in very high fire danger again, because, we’re going to have some breezy, but lower humidities. Everything’s dry still, even though we got a little shot of snow. Yeah, it seems like we’ve gotten more more moisture this winter than previous winters, but still not enough when you’re still fighting a drought.”
