After 20 years as Seward County’s emergency management director Gary Petersen says the job is about management.
That may be an understatement.
For two decades, Petersen has been on-call 24/7, working with emergency response teams, city and village leaders, power companies, state and federal emergency agencies, and Seward County residents before, during and after emergency situations.
“You never know when something is going to take place,” Petersen said.
He has been accustomed to monitoring severe weather conditions all the time.
When the Aug. 9 windstorm hit Seward County, Petersen was in California for a wedding. He was on the phone for hours helping make sure communication was happening and people were getting help after trees and powerlines were downed.
“I tried to do the best I could from out there,” he said.
His wife, Paula, handed him paper and pen to keep track of the calls
Soon someone else will have to be the person on call. Petersen retired Jan. 2.
Petersen had been Seward County’s weed superintendent for 11 years when previous emergency management director Warren “Bud” Erickson died in 2003. He filled in for a time before the Seward County Commissioners appointed him to the half-time emergency management position in addition to the weed superintendent role in 2004.
For a few years, he split his time between those two roles, but 17 years ago, the county began a cooperative arrangement where Petersen would serve both Seward and York counties, making emergency management his sole focus.
He said the process of becoming the director was a learning curve. He has participated in state and national educational programs and taken part in “any events that focus on preparedness” to serve county residents.
Petersen has also coordinated training classes and exercises for volunteer fire departments, the hospital, schools, Concordia University, businesses, cities and villages to train staff and volunteers to react to emergency situations including tornados, blizzards, flooding, ice storms, fires, and even a pandemic.
“We try to do a wide range of things,” he said.
In recent months he has worked with Seward County commissioners to plan a preparedness event next spring.
The event, which goes beyond emergency volunteers to include all county residents, will emphasize readiness.
“We are an all-volunteer county and the more they can support (volunteers) with donations and support, the better off we will be,” Petersen said.
The primary goal of all pre-event training is eliminating loss of life, Petersen said.
Property and other damages are secondary.
People have to be aware and prepared to take action to remain safe until first responders can safely get to the scene, he said.
Staying safe in the aftermath requires people to follow protocols for actions by everyone involved.
Among the most memorable situations Petersen dealt with was the 2014 Mother’s Day tornados that wreaked havoc in the southwest corner of the county.
“That was quite a deal,” Petersen said.
In the aftermath, the local volunteers and residents were assisted by people from inside and outside the communities.
“There were all kinds of volunteer agencies out there,” Petersen said, noting churches, the Salvation Army and many others showed up to help.
The Mother’s Day tornado struck Cordova and Beaver Crossing late in the afternoon on May 11, 2014, damaging homes, farms, businesses and community buildings there and around the county.
The storms, which also brought more than three inches of rain, left Beaver Crossing and Cordova residents without power and few structures unaffected by the twister. Beaver Crossing residents were evacuated for a time and an emergency volunteer center was set up in Utica.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration later reported the storms in Cordova and Beaver Crossing were Enhanced Fujita Scale 3 tornados, which are defined by winds exceeding 136 miles per hour and cause severe damage to homes and other buildings, damaging farmsteads and homes and flattening trees and farmland.
Newspaper reports in the weeks that followed reported 16 Beaver Crossing homes destroyed and more than 20 more severely damaged. Most of the other homes in town were also damaged.
Recovery from such an event, Petersen said, takes years.
“Both communities have done awesome jobs coming back, probably even better than they were before,” Petersen said.
Starting Jan. 3, Petersen will be preparing for more time to fish, boat and take care of some projects at home. His grown children, Holly and Daniel, live nearby with their families, so he and the four grandchildren may have more time together, too.
“I think I will keep busy,” Petersen said.
