Hispanics Left Without Warning
Families Seek Safety with Firefighters
Last updated Monday, March 13, 2006 10:19 PM CST in News
By Lori Harrison-Stone
The Morning News
ROGERS -- The storm sirens that blasted in Rogers late Sunday night sent most people to a safe spot in their homes, but some Hispanic families didn't know what to do.
They showed up at Rogers Fire Station 1.
Fire Chief Wesley Lewis said Monday that several Hispanic families were sheltered at the station until the storm passed. They didn't understand what the sirens meant and didn't know what to do in severe weather, he said.
Caesar Aguilar, director of the Rogers Community Support Center, said he understands why some Latinos might have been frightened when the warning sirens went off Sunday night.
"In some countries, they don't have such a thing," he said.
Local television warnings are broadcast in English and so are warnings on most local radio stations, Aguilar said. He believes it should be mandated that storm warnings be broadcast in Spanish as well as English in areas where there is a substantial Hispanic population.
"There's no communication when we really need it," he said.
One Hispanic family was sent home when it arrived at the fire station before the storm hit. A large building isn't a good place to stay in a tornado, Lewis said, adding that the smallest room in a house is typically better.
He pointed out that one man lost his life in Pierce City, Mo., when a tornado hit the National Guard Armory in May 2003. Dozens of Pierce City residents gathered there to ride out the storm, but the building collapsed.
That same tornado is blamed for at least two deaths in a small mobile home park north of Monett, Mo., where Hispanics didn't know what the storm sirens meant and weren't aware of the coming storm, according to news reports afterward.
Lewis said the Hispanic families who were sheltered at the fire station arrived when it was safer to keep them there rather than send them home. They were brought into the station's living area, but that's not something the department likes to do because firefighters are likely to leave the station to respond to an emergency, Lewis said.
Representatives of KZRA 1590, a local Spanish radio station, did not respond to calls asking for comment on the issue.
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