Severe May storms prompted fires and siren failures; Lincoln County orders after-action review

Region 51 emergency management director Brandon Myers told the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners that a series of severe thunderstorms and high-wind events on May 14 produced multiple lightning-caused fires and several tornado or landspout warnings across Lincoln County, and that emergency services were heavily taxed that evening.

Myers summarized National Weather Service warnings that began with severe thunderstorm watches and moved into tornado warnings and high-wind alerts as the storm shifted across the county. He reported multiple fires attributed to lightning strikes and described wind gusts in the high-wind warnings “80 mile an hour winds plus,” which contributed to downed power lines, fire starts and structural damage.

Village of Hershey Board of Trustees Chair Thomas Wilking told commissioners that three separate tornado warnings affecting Hershey were not accompanied by audible siren activation. “None of the 3 alerts that were issued were accompanied by a siren in Hershey,” Wilking said, and he described residents calling village officials seeking explanation. Wilking asked for clarification of who is responsible for activating sirens and invited emergency management to meet with the village board to clarify roles and procedures.

Steve Reeves, North Platte police chief, told the board the county’s paging and siren activation systems appear to have suffered a single-point failure during the storm: state-owned equipment in a radio tower building near the landfill generated temperature alarms and technicians reported multiple equipment alarms at the tower. Reeves said his office’s recordings show the Hershey/Sutherland paging channel went silent while other frequencies remained active, which is consistent with a localized radio outage that would prevent remote siren activation.

Commissioners and emergency managers said there will be a formal after-action review to identify system failures and procedural improvements. Myers acknowledged reports of siren malfunctions and said an action plan and root-cause analysis will follow; he also noted that other alerting channels — Smart911, RAVE alerts and broadcast media — are additional layers of notification that residents can use.

The board also approved travel and training requests for Brandon Myers and Region 51 staff. The board authorized Myers to attend the IAEM (International Association of Emergency Management) Region 7 conference July 23–24 in Overland Park, Kansas; the CERT National Conference August 4–9 in Plainfield, Indiana; and the IAEM national conference November 14–20 in Louisville, Kentucky. Each authorization was made by motion and approved by roll call.

Commissioners thanked first responders and dispatch staff for their work during the event and asked emergency management and the sheriff’s office to continue follow-up about siren activation procedures and backups for critical radio equipment.