Village of Huntley is StormReady Certified

The Village of Huntley is pleased to announce that the Village is officially certified StormReady, a designation provided by the National Weather Service. 

At the Thursday, August 10, 2023 Village Board Meeting, the Village Board was proud to accept the Storm Ready Certification from StormReady Board Member Mike Bardou. 

While working on updating the Village’s Emergency Operations Plan, staff completed the requirements for StormReady Certification. In March of 2023, led by the Police Department’s Emergency Response and Preparedness Manager Patrick Ullrich, staff submitted the Village’s StormReady application to the StormReady Board.

In May of 2023, five members of the StormReady Board conducted a site visit at the Huntley Police Department, as well as a review of the Village’s StormReady application. This process required staff to explain in detail the answers and comments provided in the application. After completing their assessment, the StormReady Board approved the Village of Huntley for certification. 

StormReady uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle all types of extreme weather from tornadoes to winter storms. The program encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations by providing emergency managers with clear-cut guidelines on how to improve their hazardous weather operations. To be officially StormReady, a community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
• Have more than one way to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and alert the public
• Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises

How does this benefit the Village of Huntley?

The Village Board’s Strategic Plan identifies a “Healthy, Safe and Attractive Community” as a strategic focus, as well as the following goal: “A Safe Community.” The StormReady certification process ensures the Village follows nationally recognized best practices to prepare for and deal with significant hazardous weather events.

Village first responders utilized the skills, resources, and procedures assessed by StormReady on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, when an EF-1 tornado struck the community. Within 45 minutes of the National Weather Service issuing a tornado warning for the area of Huntley, all key Village Staff were on the scene responding to the incident. Due to the Village’s investment in training staff and the National Weather Service’s acknowledgment of our training programs’ successes, the Village is ready to respond to the community's needs in times of crisis. StormReady helps arm America's communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property--before, during and after the event. StormReady empowers community leaders and emergency managers to strengthen local safety programs. No community is storm proof, but StormReady can help communities save lives.

The StormReady certification is good for an initial period of four years.  The Village will reapply for recertification in 2027.

For more information, please visit the National Weather Service’s Storm Ready Program website.