We accomplish this by:

• Supporting all emergency service agencies in Pittsburg County
• Maintaining a Storm Watch/Severe Weather Warning Program
• Providing citizens, businesses, and organizations with personal safety information
• Providing continuing education for Volunteers and Emergency Manaegment Staff

Emergency Management Staff and volunteers also monitor numerous two-way radio frequencys, including:154.370, 155.685, 155.490, 155.715 and 155.235. We are also equipped with Amateur Radio Equipment, and thanks to the assistance of volunteers from the Pittsburg County Amateur Radio Club, are able to monitor "HAM" frequencies as well. This includes a direct link to the National Weather Service Office in Tulsa.

We are fortunate to be a participant in the OK1st Project, which is a system for receiving weather information via computer from the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Mesonet System. This system allows us to receive real-time radar information as timely as any other source and a wealth of other important weather data. This system was developed by Dr. Kenneth Crawford and his staff at the University of Oklahoma.

We have also installed a new transmitter which will allow the McAlester/Pittsburg County EOC to receive hazardous weather information from a second satellite link, independent of "Weather Wire". This information is then re-broadcast via radio transmitter to anyone who may have a computer and radio receiver configured to receive the signal. This service is available to anyone with the proper equipment, not only to the usual agencys. The system broadcasts on frequency 148.775.

Our Volunteer Spotters are formally trained by the National Weather Service annually, and informally throughout the year. Mr. Steve Piltz of the Tulsa NWS Office is a valued partner of Emergency Management, and he along with his supervisor, Lantz Rothfusz, and the entire staff of Tulsa NWS, provide our staff and volunteers, as well as the citizens of Pittsburg County, with priceless support and information regarding hazardous weather events.

Our Volunteers are comprised of private citizens, members of area Volunteer Fire Departments, and several Law Enforcement Agencies. Most of these wonderful people provide their own radios and equipment, utilize their personal vehicles, and all give of their time freely, placing themselves in extremely dangerous situations, in order to assist the EOC staff in providing our citizens with the most timely and accurate severe weather information possible. They are our Number One Resource during hazardous weather!! Without these people, on the ground, in harms way, providing this information, we could not properly accomplish our mission.

Many articles on safety are published throughout the year thanks to our partners in the local newspapers. Additionally, we maintain a close relationship with our partners at the local radio stations, who are a most vital link in our warning system. We have a direct line to all three local stations and deliver immediate warnings to them so they may pass the warnings on to the public. Remember, when severe weather threatens, stay tuned to your local radio stations for the most up-to-the-minute weather information.

If your civic group , school, or other organization would like further information on any issue we deal with, we are available to give presentations to any group in our area.