Day of the Killer Tornadoes

[Thunderbolt]

If anyone would like to watch this classic documentary that was produced by the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (Now FEMA), in the wake of the Super Tornado Outbreak of 1974, I highly recommend it. Moreover, you will get to see some vintage radio equipment from G.E., Hallicrafters, and Motorola. Likewise, there is plenty of footage that was shot in the emergency operations and public safety dispatch centers in Hamilton, Montgomery, and Greene Counties in Ohio. For some, this should bring back a lot of memories, but for others, it will give you an idea of what communications were like before today's high-tech trunking systems were in place.

The film comes in three parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOM8SPNGLhY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGCi95ZrcHU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LSHoAILqZc

73's

Ron

 

[jds911]

That brought back memories. When I started dispatching in 1983, those GE consoles were state of the art!

 

[JediMaster]

Very interesting. I wasn't even around then but it's amazing how technology has changed. And to think that was the first use of the sirens in 17 years. Now, you can barely go 17 days without them being at least tested.

 

[LPROB00]

Xenia

Very cool. That was 7 years before I was born and I've heard stories my whole life having been born and raised in Fairborn. I had heard several years ago that the map in the backround at the Fairborn Police Department is now located in the archives at one of the Greene County libraries. You can sort of make out the districts / beats around the southern part of the city. Does anyone know if that footage of the railroad was that of Xenia? Not so much the train crashing but of the yard and the shot of the train coming towards the camera? I would love for other members to share their stories about that day. I remember the tornado on September 21, 2001 very very well. I listened to the radio traffic all night. A friend of mine was an explorer with GCSO and was right in the middle of it. Tire Discounters was completely destroyed, my dad and I had been there just 4 days earlier.

 

[acegta2002]

I don't think the rail road depot is that of Xenia. Lived there at the time and don't recall that depot or anything like that. Not to say it ain't so because I was younger back then. Our house had the only working phone in the area and we had "friends" we never knew we had .The correct date on the 3rd tornado since (including) April 3, 1974 was September 20, 2000. The other one, a much smaller one, was in 1989.
Side note, the tornadoes keep getting more north each time. The last one missed my house, by less than 1/8 mile.

 

[k8ow]

Damn… I shot a bunch of that film. I was a young pup news photographer at ch. 2. I was right behind the storm as it went through Xenia.

Everyone went to Arrow Head at first. It was about an hour before anyone found out the downtown area of Xenia was hit. I know of a couple of ham friends, that worked for a radio repair shop, that brought a bunch of antennas and parts from there home ham stations and got the police, sheriff and fire radios back on the air. It took them only around 2 hours, after the tornado, to get the radios up and running.

I do remember it happened on a Wednesday and I didn’t make it home, for a good nights sleep, till Friday. At least that’s what I thought would happen. I only had about 3 hours sleep when the phone rang and I was called back to Xenia because of a fire that killed some guard troops.

It was the only time in my life that I really got lost. On Thursday I had gone back to Dayton to drop off film and came back into town through Arrow Head. I had been downtown shooting most of the afternoon and needed to drop film and reload. I started out of town on 35 and noticed it water tower. The water tower is on the east side of town. I had gotten turned around and was going the wrong way.

The thing that has lasted all this time was the first look at Arrow Head. I remember it looked like a war zone. As you looked around everything was destroyed. Some guy with blood all over his head came up to me and asked what street we were on. I told him I didn’t know. He was looking for his house and family.

All in all a bad day……

 

[wa8pyr]

Does anyone know if that footage of the railroad was that of Xenia? Not so much the train crashing but of the yard and the shot of the train coming towards the camera?

Yes, that is Xenia. All those tracks, and the depot, are gone now. The depot building they show was actually the yard office and interlocking tower; the original depot was demolished in the late 60s or early 70s, IIRC. I believe Amtrak did use that building as a depot for awhile, however.

I would love for other members to share their stories about that day.

I was 11 when that happened. My most vivid memory is of my dad coming into the family room and telling us (my 3 younger brothers and I) that if he came and got us and told us there was a tornado and to go down the basement quickly, don't dawdle and don't ask questions, just go. The system slammed right over our neighborhood; we didn't get the tornadoes that hit Xenia, but we did get some of the worst thunderstorm activity I've ever seen...

 

[mmartinfan]

Uhhhh I really don't have any memory of that day. But I remember other bad storms.