Joplin MO Emergency Services Audio from Tornado on 5/22/11

[Lessinath]

All things considered, they did an excellent job. I salute these men and women.

[Zebraprintpaintjob]

I was.listening to this in abilene tx on an app on my phone, my 2 yo went home to joplin for a month to visit his grandparents and perform in a yearly dance recital In miami ok! If the dance recital wasnt that day he may have been in it. I went home three days after to help for two weeks my husband wasnt even home 2 days from a deployment when it hit. My heart still goes out to those lost. It was a horrible site to see.

[mancavene]

I would love to know who the female 911 operator was putting out the first tornado warning and continuing with her communications through out this event. She is a true professional.

[RIPOmega3k1]

I am fascinated by this stuff.

[dlr11164]

Actually considering the severity of this storm the response seems to be well coordinated. We had an EF-3 tornado in the city in which I live in 2006 and there was some confusion in the first few minutes of the storm.

[ChristopherSaindon]

28:39 I held it together until this point. You are all the greatest.. THANK YOU for what you all did this day!

[ChristopherSaindon]

13:00 they were going all out at that point -- that vehicle was hauling. This sounds like emergency comm from the August 28, 1990 from the Plainfield IL F5 (I was out that day) but this was a much, MUCH larger event with around 5 times the fatalities..and Plainfield was EXTREMELY bad w/29 killed. God Bless everyone who responded :)

[tornadochaserable]

i think we should all heed tornado warnings in mo

[mancavene]

To the people posting negative comments.......Please take a moment to listen to the calm voices of virtually every emergency responder on this tape. If faced with this type of situation, I pray that any plans you have work. Fortunately for you, you have this incident to learn from and criticize before it could happen to you.

[3034893118]

My Question is Why was the Civil Air Patrol USAF, CERT(Community Emergency Response Team), National Guard, etc been notifyed at the time after the disaster. they could brough you all the additional Man power needeed at the start of the disaster has anythone thought of that before? Its intereristing here a disaster from start to finish for the very first time on youtube.

[justinkingtut]

i watched this hit on a storm chaser web cam. very sad.

[NC198600]

I was living at Springview Gardens Apartments on the back side at 23rd Street and Cunningham when the tornado hit. I was even on the phone with mom in Phoenix, AZ before, during, and after the tornado. I called he at 5:40PM and a minute later it hit. She heard the tornado through the phone.

[flutter32104]

At the time of the Tornado I was a volunteer firefighter (now I work for JFD) in one of the surrounding cities of Joplin. What I love about this video is most of the radio traffic are volunteer only stations. I'm really proud of this community!

[thatkyguy]

God continue to Bless Joplin.

[lfpd564]

I'm a firefighter from Oklahoma. I remember seeing what had happened that night and knowing I had to do something. The day after, myself and two other fireman wanted to do whatever we could for our fellow Americans in their time of need and grief. we responded with an Oklahoma task force and performed various search and rescue tasks, and provided relief to those who had been up for days. I had never previously been to Joplin but upon arrival i felt a part of it. God bless Joplin and those lost

[TheCemetarian]

i wonder what was all edited out of this?

[joshhonas]

@TheCemetarian A lot of it was. There was some crazy stuff coming over the car radio and what not that evening. Some of this is dramatic audio, but there was a lot of dramatic audio edited out.

[rmadllo]

I was out on east 32nd and the cell phones were working but it was very spotty,probably due to the number of towers being down and the number of people trying to call. Texts tended to go thru when calls wouldn't. Land lines were also unreliable.

Our police, fire, ems, etc. did a fantastic job. If you haven't been here and seen the miles of destruction, you just can't understand.

[N5XGZ]

Even the best written, most structured plans fall into turmoil during a disaster of this magnatude...understand, for those who do not know the area, this tornado sliced through one of the most populated areas of Joplin, approximately 80 percent residential, and the width of this storm was about 1 mile wide at times, if not more. So please, unless you truely understand the scope of the tragedy, or the logistics involved in coping with this magnatude of damage, reserve comments.

[unclewalter87]

@N5XGZ Being from Joplin and having worked this, thank you. So many people (especially reporters who came in after the disaster) were very quick to throw the blame at the feet of Emergency Planners for this, and as the city manager said, there is no way to prepare for an EF-5 that comes through the middle of the city.

[TheCemetarian]

@unclewalter87 im from coffeyville kansas and my prayers are with joplin. i feel horrible because joplin was an awesme place for me and my friends to go hang out

[joshhonas]

@TheCemetarian Ya I am from Humboldt, Ks, it really is sad that one of the worst tornadoes in United States history occurred in our backyard.

[KY9L]

@N5XGZ Its this very scenario alone, is helping me with developing a very similar scenario for the Louisville, KY area for the local ARES groups. I am hoping once its done, not only ARES will be involved but Emergency management, and other emergency services and possibly the local NWS. I am hoping what happened in Joplin and in the Southeast will help others in the future for disaster preparedness. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Joplin, Mo. ~KY9L~

[candyce75]

Your very right ohboy there were NO cell phone communication or landlines working. We had family trying to contact us from 2 hours away all I would get was a text every now and then and couldnt send anything out for days. My mother in law was transported to freeman west and we didnt know she was dying because there was no way to get ahold of us until someone found us and came to our door banging on what was left of it.

[kgracielu2005]

i was at home at 17th and connecticut and never heard any sirens, just jerks driving thru looking, not helping

[ohboy123able]

"Sending you a Van to Transport your most non critical.....waiting on Ambulances for the Critical"......sweet.......yup­.....good job....buddy....



[lfargo133]

@ohboy123able I suggest you listen to the Radio traffic over and over again. Where in any of this audio do you hear mets radio traffic? I hear Fire Fighters requesting help from outside agencies. Also keep in mind the storm passed several County's to the east of Jasper Co. would it make sense for them to send all their ambulances to Joplin while the storm was passing over them. My guess is you're an angry ex employee of an agency. BTW do you know where Jasco is even located?

[ohboy123able]

Those in Charge...knew it was a mess up.....for those saying all this help showed up from .Springfield....etc...you bet they did....about 9:30....4 hours later.....and they set at Lowe's bullshitted...and drank coffee....all the injured were already transported.....in the back of trucks.....just saying IT IS CLEAR THAT THE DISPATCHER WOULD NOT REQUEST MEDICAL MUTUAL AID WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION FROM THE METS SUPERVISOR.....AND A DELAY OF SOMEWHERE OF ABOUT A HOUR PLUS OCCURRED.......

[9743sfd]

great job from eveybody. Who ever put this audio together did a great job!!

[penpoetess]

How can I send this to my brother in VA? We were born and raised in Joplin. Well, I think I have figured it out.

[penpoetess]

How can I send this to my brother in VA? We were born and raised in Joplin.

[ohboy123able]

MY ANSWER is yes....ALSO my cellphone worked perfectly well......I WON'T go into the details of my qualifications...but I have some 3000 more hours of education in Medical Care than a Nurse Tech......"We're here at 27th & Main...Fire and EMS are not really sure what they are suppose to do"...."We need you to contact some ambulances from anywhere" "We are unable to find JEMS Supervisor" (to approve that)....THAT IS VERY WRONG

[lfargo133]

@ohboy123able Who is your cell phone provider, Verizon AT&T, and US Celluar was not working worth a crap after the storm. Your are also hearing audio from what Im sure is a phone app that was recorded I dont hear any JEMS traffic coming across. So whoever released this audio I'm sure has no connections with the 9-1-1 center or JEMS. Everyone did what they could do that Sunday evening and you ask why everyone had to go thur the Ambulance supervisor, well I guess because he's the Supervisor.

[shantell97]

I am a nurse tech and responded to Joplin at 10pm as I was headed into joplin> I couldn't believe all the arriving ems and firefighters police from all areas, as far away as 5 hours....As soon as these responders heard about the tornado than they jumped into there cars to respond......There was no cell phone service.....no phone service so Joplin did great...

[JaydeesLaydee]

By the way they dispatched ambulances from Grove, and Jay as soon as it happened. Heard this on my own scanner here...

[JaydeesLaydee]

God bless you RubberDuckyMedic...and everyone else who lived through this horror. My hats' off to everyone involved.

[ct79]

Thank you for uploading this!



[DroobieFromDrenden]

every single person who scrambled to help from surrounding counties and states, Thank you for saving my family, my friends, someone else's family and friends. Thank you! I cant help but wonder what some people complain about. These people had true devastation not thrown but hurled in to their faces at 200 MPH! There is no need to want all the logs. Some one probably posted this to show how quickly they could respond. They did what was necessary to save lives! And for that I am truely thankful!

[DroobieFromDrenden]

I dont know what to say to some of you people out there who think its ok to judge how anyone of these people responded. Police, Firefighters, EMT, or just a shaken citizen ready to help in any way you can, I tip my hat to you. All those who were out there Breaking people free, saving peoples lives or just lucky to be alive! An act of nature in that magnitude could have killed thousands of people there. Joplin is my home town, its all I have ever known, and its pretty much wiped out now. 

[RubberDuckyMedic]

Could you be in the chaos and see the trauma, burns, impalements, deaths, and destruction not knowing if your children or spouse were alive? What you don't hear is the EMS side of the radio traffic. There's multiple sides to every story. 

[RubberDuckyMedic]

But until you are the one standing in the hail and pouring rain, black tagging patients, listening to screams from all directions, and having absolute devastation surround you- you cannot judge what happened. I was there. I still have nightmares. I will never tell my family the things I saw that day. There was no communication on cell phones or landlines. I had no idea if any of my family had survived. Could you be in the chaos and see the trauma, burns, impalements, deaths, and destruction

[RubberDuckyMedic]

I'm a paramedic in this area and was first on scene in an ambulance. We beat the firefighters, police, and first responders on scene. My partner and I pulled many people from the debris, and there were many we couldn't get to. There is no amount of training to prepare any one for a disaster of this magnitude. My supervisor that day did the best he could with half the town gone. If you want to complain about how pathetic his actions were then that's your decision. But until you are the one stand

[RFDbehindme]

I was listening to this just after the tornadoes struck and it was overwhelming because my family lives there and not knowing was the hardest part. thanks for posting... everyone was ok in my family however.

[TheStricklers]

You guys done a great job, in a very bad situation!!! You went in when other people where trying to get out!!!!!! You guys are the true heros!!!!

[spacestevie2]

This is a massive disaster in progress. As one who has experience in emergency situations I am impressed with at least getting the people into the area. There is really nothing better could be done. One has to remember that a lot of the communications infrastructure is disabled. Cell phones and phone lines are down and the radio is the only way to get through to people. In a disaster of this magnitude its a wonder that anything can get done.

[Kreature100]

You have to remember that the situation is still unfolding before the 9min mark. You have to get the full spectrum and what for the threat to move out before you bring more people in. I thought they did a nice job of communicating during this hectic time. Again I understand where your coming from but I think they did a great job.

[cabinetbuilder]

My wife and I came down to Joplin on the 27th of May to help with whatever we could do. My wife ( a registered Nurse Practitioner) volunteered at a Walgreen's on 20th and Main during the day helping the victims with whatever concerns they had giving tetanus shots and comforting them. My son and I helped people get possessions out of their homes and load into their vehicles. My heart goes out to those we helped and didn't get a chance to help. We will be back soon to help again.

[ohboy123able]

We triaged a Finger....People screaming for Help....We don't have enough Man Power.....There Were 2 Disasters in Joplin that Night....OH....GOD BLESS the Firefighter that finally said we have Hundreds Injured...WANT TO RELEASE ALL THE RECORDS......

[ohboy123able]

MY QUESTION IS....WHY was it only the JEMS Supervisors Decision to call in OUTSIDE HELP.... what happened is that People Laid Dying...with Numerous Dispatchers knowing that the Hospital was taken out, a Trooper requesting Multiple Ambulances, and that only ONE Trooper only on I44....The Dispatchers followed protocol....The Jems Supervisor is in Charge... HERE"S a Better One..Sign in at the Police Station on 3rd. St....for assignment....STUPID....PLUM STUPID.....

[shantell97]

@ohboy123able I was in Joplin to help respond to the medical needs and when I arrived at 10 pm I was meet with ems. firefighters, police as far away as at least 5 hours....I was sent to a command center to find out where i was to be dispatched...It was repeated many many times there was no cell phone or phone communication working...and many times i have heard them call for help from all local agencies...I know Seneca, Newton Co EMS and others where called to respond...

[shantell97]

@ohboy123able MY QUESTION is did u go help........

[ohboy123able]

RELEASE THE DISPATCH LOG....ALL THE RADIO LOGS...AND LET THE PUBLIC DECIDE.....

[chatpilekid]

@ohboy123able There is no scandal here the scope of this disaster is really hard to wrap your mind around. I being just a citizen, was in the area of 20th and rangeline just after it happened.It was total chaos Downed powerlines, trees, houses, wreaked cars, debris of all sorts laying in the road ways not to mention the traffic of people frantic to either check on family members, get to their homes or simply to find a clear route out of the area to be out of the way of the first responders

[chatpilekid]

@ohboy123able And at the time we had no idea that the conditions there continued pretty much the same all the way west across town as well as to the east out through Duquesne and beyond. it's amazing the work that these first responders did in the first 72 hours of this disaster. Let alone the first 24 which were desperate beyond comprehension. As one of the 2 major hospital's in a major hub city was knocked out. Cell phone service nonexistent a major two-way communications tower was rubble

[bigkahuner]

If you have ever been in an emergency you know nothing goes as planed. The communication system was down for a while. I'm sure everyone will learn something from this emergency but the next one will be different and we'll have to learn more next time. Hopefully this will be a once in a lifetime event for all of us. Everyone did thier best and I thank them for thier efforts.

[ohboy123able]

METS SUPERVISOR SCREWED UP...... WHY DOES NO ONE SEE THIS..WAY OVER..30 MINUTES TO CALL IN HELP FROM OUTSIDE OF THE AREA.....BIG MISTAKE....SORRY IF I UPSET SOMEONE...BUT THIS IS THE TRUTH...AND WHY WAS HE THE ONLY PERSON ABLE TO MAKE THAT DECISION.....CRAZY.....HEARD HIM ON KZRG TRYING TO JUSTIFY THE DELAY....LIKE IT WAS NORMAL...IT IS NOT...IT WAS NEARLY 9:00 BEFORE SPRINGFIELD WAS REQUESTED. THINK THE TIMELINE SHOULD BE MADE PUBLIC.

[Kreature100]

@ohboy123able you have to remember that there is still a massive tornado on the ground. If you can eliminate more casualties from the equation, epically first responders, then the situation can be managed more orderly. I understand what your saying but I feel the delay is justifiable.

[1205firefighter]

@ohboy123able Well if you are in any kind of Emergency Management of Emergency service you would know that there is a management system thats set up for anything. Fires, wrecks, medicals, or natural disasters. You have what they call incident commander then breaks off into many different chains. Ultimately this went about as well as it could. You have 1 guy that gets what is needed for that town. You just can't ask for anyone or anybody till you get a scene size up and a rough amount of injuries

[OOisha]

Outstanding job done by all the dispatchers and emergency personel. Without your quick coordination and excellent response there would have been alot more caos. You all are HEROS! And truely amazing!

Sometimes people can change others' lives without even knowing ~

Sometimes people can shed light in a dark place without realizing ~

Sometimes people give others a voice to speak without saying a word ~

Sometimes people can be an inspiration without even trying ~

[JonasGreywolf]

What an outstanding job done by all the responders involved! It was amazing and heartbreaking to listen to this . You are all true heroes! May God bless you all.

[dsplt]

a big shout out to the dispatchers who remained calm when everything hit the fan, The calmness and excellent coordination of all the emergency personel is amazing.

[Kreature100]

@dsplt I totally agree. The dispatcher did an amazing job at being calm and communicating during this. Its amazing how they kept communication in an some what orderly fashion.

[jgoss4754]

The professionalism of the law enforcement and emergency services workers and firefighters as they provided the first line of help and rescue is amazing. This is very dramatic video and can provide an education for future tornado emergencies.

[heyginny]

My thoughts go out to all the people of Joplin!!! Hats off to all the those who responded.

[Clarrisani]

I was actually listening to this in Australia via my Android Scanner Radio. I was sitting in shock praying for the people of Joplin.

[flowers2you]

@Clarrisani Thank you for your prayers for Joplin. God can hear you across the earth praying for a stranger. Bless you, friend.

[trueblonde316]

it was an unimaginable disaster. great job to all that responded: LEOs, EMS, FD, first responders and untrained civilians just helping neighbors.

[iwillsurvive30]

huge kudos to all emergency workers you did an amazing job! So chilling to listen to this but i am in awe at all your awesome work!! thank you to you all.

[kd0ael]

Great job under such awful circumstances! Prayers sent for all in the affected area and all the rescue workers! Thank you all for your service!

[Kittencondo]

All are also in my prayers.

[mark03063]

God Bless EVERYONE there. I can not express my sadness. You all did a GREAT job!! Hang in there Brothers.

[rdm258]

GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU............

Amazing Rescue's..... Thank you and stay safe.

Rob Nashville,TN

[soulcollecter1329]

May god be with u all. My heart goes out to all of u.

[mrschurch1990]

To every firefighter and ems along with all effected, God be with you in this time of devistation.

[matulis4]

true hero's

[nurseschu]

God Bless EVERYONE involved in this tragedy, either by being a survivor or personnel volunteering countless hours of emergency services!!! I work in an ER also, this radio traffic is apocalyptic!!!! Great job to all trying control this chaotic disaster, you are all in our prayers!!

[rpsquaw]

GREAT JOB OF DISBATCH ,U CAN HEAR THE PANIC

[fldoughboy72]

God Bless every single person in Joplin who was injured, helped survivors and perished in this catastrophic disaster.

[dancaldwell230]

that must have been a very fast tornado wow

, my family is there and made it through ok thank god. gotta hand it to them they stayed pretty calm and proffesional throughout

[JaydeesLaydee]

@dancaldwell230 It only took about a minute to do this...it came down VERY fast.

[JennyIvanovic]

My prayers are with you all.

I am praying for you.

[easternpa2]

Wow, I hate to click "like" on something like this, but you did a great job letting the story tell itself. I'm a long time radio guy. This reminds me of listening at home on 9/11. Very powerful stuff in here for those of us with "scanner ears".

[Mr88Entertaiment]

Great job to the Dispatchers and rescue personnel

[freebrid1963]

Good job 2 the rescueworker our prayers with u all.

[freebrid1963]

Good job 2 the rescueworker our prayers u all.

[sheilah1101]

Praying for all those in Joplin.

[mixtaperadio]

rip to those lost in joplin

[UnrealNate]

This feed has some many listeners on it.