Retiring Kingfisher City/ County Emergency Management Director Steve Loftis was the guest speaker, Monday, March 11, at the monthly meeting of Kingfi sher County Republican Women.

Loftis was recently awarded the Oklahoma Emergency Management Association’s Lifetime Contribution Award for his 24 years of service as well as the Northwest Area Director of the Year Award at the OEMA conference.

When Loftis began his service, he said he was told “all you have to worry about is storms and floods.”

That’s definitely part of the job, Loftis said, but after Sept. 11, things changed and there were many new things to learn.

Not one to discuss his own accomplishments, Loftis spoke to the group about things to consider for emergency preparedness.

He asked those at the meeting if they have a plan of what they’ll do should they have to leave their home during a crisis.

“That’s very important to make a plan where all your family members know if something happens, this is where we’re going to meet,” Loftis said.

Oftentimes cell phone towers may lose service or become so jammed with calls they don’t connect and it’s important to have a plan ahead of time and go over that plan with your family, Loftis stressed.

Other topics he talked about were having a FEMA- approved storm shelter in place at your residence (and registering it’s location with his office) or, if you don’t have shelter, to be prepared to take cover in an interior room, like a closet or bathroom during a tornado emergency.

“You do not want to leave your house and try to outrun the storm…that’s the worst thing you can do,” Loftis said.

He also discussed what to do during flooding situations, icestorms and the advantages of having a generator as a backup power source as well as other topics.

With Kingfisher Creek and Uncle John Creek on the city’s outskirts and the associated flooding risks, Loftis said, “Whenever there’s a threat of flooding, I’m in contact with the National Weather Service every hour…I’m taking readings on the creek and receiving information about when they think it will crest.

“Anytime there is a threat, we are monitoring the situation.”

Although weather is always a big factor in Oklahoma when preparing for possible crises or disaster scenarios, there are many other events such as technological attacks, hazardous spills, civil unrest and other occurrences that an emergency management director must consider.

The local agency works to minimize the effects of attacks, technological and natural disasters upon the people within the county by preparing, implementing and exercising preparedness plans and also assisting local cities within the county with training for and mitigation of disasters and coordinating actual disaster response/recovery operations.

Additionally, Loftis and the Kingfisher County EMA is responsible for countywide storm spotting, tornado alerting, flood watches, road closures and response to hazardous material spills.

Reflecting on his service, Loftis said, “I found out a long time ago that I like to help people.

“If people say they’re in this job for the money, they need to find another job. If they don’t like helping people, they don’t need to be in emergency management, because it doesn’t matter who the people are, if they need help, we’re going to help them.”

Loftis has also served 12 years on the Oklahoma Emergency Management Association Board of Directors, which is comprised of emergency managers from various regions of Oklahoma.

“The association officers contribute their time and expertise on a volunteer basis, dedicating countless hours towards the advancement of OEMA’s objectives,” its website states.

Loftis also serves on the OK-First advisory board which is a program of the Oklahoma Mesonet, providing the state’s public safety community with weather education and access to critical real-time weather data.

At the end of March, as Loftis begins his retirement, Ryan Deatherage will take over the responsibilities of Emergency Management director.

Deatherage currently serves as Kingfisher County 911 Director and Emergency Management deputy director.

The Kingfisher County Emergency Management office was formerly housed in the courthouse annex, but has since relocated to the Kingfisher County Criminal Justice Center and has a different phone number (405-375-2792), Loftis said.

At the close of the meeting, Kingfisher County Republican Women First VicePresident Debbie Parks congratulated Loftis on his retirement and expressed appreciation for his dedicated service to the community.