When Saturday's tornado came barreling across the Missouri border, the sirens weren't alone in alerting the public.
First Responders took on the role of weather-spotters, and one Seneca firefighter lost his life.
Volunteer firefighter Tyler Casey passed away Monday afternoon from injuries he sustained during the weekend's storm.
As you mentioned, he was weather-spotting, something almost all emergency responders in rural southwest Missouri do when a storm is on the horizon.
We spent Tuesday afternoon with the Mt. Vernon Volunteer Fire Department.
When the sky begins to turn an ominous shade of gray and the radar registers trouble's headed our way, some take cover.
Others take a chance.
“There are areas out there where storm sirens don't reach and there are no sirens.”
So Assistant Fire Chief Brad Delay and the men and women of the Mt. Vernon Fire Department become the city's alert system.
First the National Weather Service notifies them, then some firefighters monitor the storm's progress from the station, while others are dispatched to locations prime for spotting the messy stuff.
A lot of inclement weather moves into Mt. Vernon from the southwest.
A hill along Missouri H Highway is the perfect observation point for weather-spotters who want to see eight miles into the distance.
If they see a tornado, they sound their sirens and verbally alert people in harm's way.
“This time it was a powerful storm and fast-moving and he got caught up in it,” explains Redings Mill Fire Chief Andy Nimmo.
21-year-old Seneca firefighter Casey was warning residents when he was fatally injured by Saturday's tornado.
Governor Matt Blunt walked right past the firefighter's crumpled truck as he surveyed the damage Monday.
Delay says his people have been close to funnel clouds before, but Casey's death has put things in perspective.
“It becomes very scary,” Delay says.
But fear can lead to tremendous accomplishments- Casey successfully warned three people before the storm struck.
Nimmo says, “I wish I could be as much of a firefighter as he was."
The Mt. Vernon firefighters attend a National Weather Service weather-spotting training session about once a year.
Nearly half the department is also involved in law enforcement, so when they are not weather-spotting as firefighters, many are doing it as police officers or sheriff's deputies.