Arkansas activates emergency operation center as winter weather threat looms

A.J. Gary, the director of the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management, told 40/29 News the state emergency operation center will be activated, starting on Sunday, with the threat of potential winter weather across the state.”All the personnel here at the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management, we wear many hats. So, a day-to-day job may be a grants manager, or it may be an HR person or finance, but when we’re activated, they actually have a role in the state emergency operation center. So, we will have teams actually sitting in the center, working the phones, working with our local officials, so that we’re ready to respond if there’s any additional resources that they need,” Gary said. “We’ve got an idea with what the weather is going to be, but we don’t really know what the impact is going to be or how serious that impact is going to be.”Arkansas National Guard troops are also planning to assist local and state agencies where winter weather may be impacting roads and highways.”The governor has approved and activated some National Guard resources so that if they’re needed, they’re in the field ready to go,” said Gary. “Many times, when we have winter weather, in cooperation with Arkansas State Police, we’ll have some national guard, what we call trunk crews, some additional personnel, out in the different troops that can assist. In the past, they’ve assisted in helping to get ambulances unstuck or out of ditches even, because even though there’s severe weather, emergency services have to continue to operate. The National Guard is a great partner that can assist in getting those resources to where they need to be.”