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Des Moines Co Public Safety |
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Des Moines County CERT team to dissolve at end
of the year
Sep 23, 2025 Updated Sep 23, 2025
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Members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) of Des
Moines County pose for a photo in May 2025. Des Moines County
Emergency Management announced on Tuesday the CERT will dissolve at
the end of the year. (Des Moines County Emergency Management)
Des Moines County Emergency Management
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Des Moines County Emergency Management (DMCEM) has announced that
the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) will be officially
dissolved as of Dec. 31.
“There has been a noticeable decline in active membership and
participation in recent years, largely due to the natural aging of
our dedicated volunteers and the challenges of recruiting new
members,” DMCEM said in a press release issued on Tuesday.
“Despite numerous outreach efforts, sustaining the level of
involvement needed to keep the program operational and effective has
become increasingly difficult.”
The CERT program, a national initiative supported by FEMA, was
designed to train volunteers to assist in disaster response, provide
support during emergencies, and promote preparedness in their
communities.
“Des Moines County’s CERT team has proudly served the area for
nearly 20 years, supporting local events, emergency exercises, and
natural disaster response efforts,” DMCEM said.
“This decision has not come lightly,” DMCEM Coordinator Shannon
Prado said in a statement.
“Over the years, the dedication, resilience, and selflessness of
this team have been nothing
Their unwavering commitment to preparedness and public service has
played a vital role in supporting Des Moines County during
emergencies, public events, and times of need.
“From disaster response training to assisting during severe weather
events, their contributions have made a lasting and positive impact
on our community.
“With fewer new volunteers stepping forward and many of our
long-standing members reaching retirement age, the program is no
longer sustainable in its current form.”
“Officials recognize the important legacy the CERT members leave
behind,” DMCEM said in their release.
“Emergency Management extends its deepest gratitude to every
individual who gave their time, training, and compassion to help
keep the community safe.”
Although the CERT program is coming to an end in Des Moines County,
residents who are passionate about community service and emergency
response are encouraged to continue their involvement in other
meaningful ways.
Des Moines County residents can explore a wide range of volunteer
opportunities, including emergency response and disaster recovery,
through the GivePulse Volunteer Hub offered by the United Way of
Southeast Iowa. This online platform connects volunteers with
organizations that need help — from assisting with food distribution
and shelter support to participating in disaster relief activities.
To sign up or browse available opportunities, visit the United Way
of Southeast Iowa’s GivePulse Volunteer Hub at
“While the CERT program may be ending, the spirit of service remains
strong in our community,” said Prado. “We hope to see that same
dedication continue through new volunteer channels.”
For questions about the dissolution of the CERT team or local
emergency preparedness resources, please contact Shannon Prado, EMA
Coordinator at (319) or by email at
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Des Moines County SKYWARN volunteer
weather-spotting program disbanded
Mar 31, 2023 Updated May 4, 2024
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A Des Moines County SKYWARN severe weather spotters course at the
Capitol Theater in Burlington on March 12, 2018. (Des Moines County
CERT/SKYWARN)
Des Moines County CERT/SKYWARN
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The Des Moines County Emergency Management’s SKYWARN
weather-spotting volunteer program has been disbanded.
SKYWARN volunteers learned of the decision to end the program in an
email from Des Moines County Emergency Management coordinator Gina
Hardin on Tuesday.
SKYWARN spotters are volunteers that worked to report information to
Des Moines County Emergency Management’s weather operations center
at the Des Moines County Communications (DESCOM) headquarters and to
the National Weather Service when severe weather hit the area.
In the email sent to SKYWARN volunteers, Hardin wrote that the
decision to end the program came after struggles in recent years to
maintain membership, staffing, and volunteer availability.
“We’re disbanding primarily because we don’t have enough volunteers
to help in the weather operations center and be the field spotters,”
Hardin told The Hawk Eye. “Our numbers had been declining, obviously
due to COVID, like every other volunteer organization.”
Hardin said she hoped the program would gain more volunteers
following the weather spotter class held on March 1, but that they
were unsuccessful in gaining more members.
Hardin said the program had about 20 members, but only had four
active members available to work at SKYWARN’s weather operation
center as of recently, and that those members had limited
availability.
“Mid-late-afternoon and late evening is when then storms (typically)
come in,” Hardin said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have enough people
to make sure that we can run the weather operations center and place
our field spotters like we want to...It takes quite a few people to
do that.”
Hardin said, ideally, the program needed a total of four volunteers
working at the weather operations center when severe weather hits
the area. The number of field spotters needed would typically depend
on how big and bad a storm was.
“We always tried to send them out in pairs when they’re out doing
the field spotting,” Hardin said. “We would like to have 15-20
people for every storm that comes into the county, but we just don’t
have the volunteers to do that.”
Hardin also explained that the group was having difficulty getting
some volunteers to attend meetings and training sessions on a
consistent basis.
The SKYWARN program had been in place for about 18 years and, at its
peak, had around 30 volunteer members, Hardin said.
Des Moines County was somewhat unique in having an official SKYWARN
team, in that there are only four or five non-emergency responder
teams in the state of Iowa, according to Hardin.
Typically, many Iowa counties reply on first responder and law
enforcement for their storm-spotting needs
SKYWARN spotters were trained to report on weather conditions, such
as wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that would
indicate developing tornados, derechos, or severe thunderstorms.
In doing so, the information spotters shared would then used to
inform the public of severe weather and to help advise dispatchers
of the potential need to sound the outdoor warning siren system in
Des Moines County.
SKYWARN members were also required to attend a National Weather
Service weather spotter class once a year, attend monthly training
meetings, and participate in activations and weekly radio checks to
maintain membership.
“The National Weather Service just likes to have (weather reports
from spotters in the field), because it gives them confirmation of
what they’re seeing on radar,” Hardin explained.
“Sometimes the way the radar shoots out from (their location in
Davenport), with the curvature of the Earth, they can’t see down low
as well, so the (field spotter) reports are what we want to get to
the National Weather Service. And that’s what SKYWARN was helping
do.”
With SKYWARN now disbanded, Hardin says the former SKYWARN
volunteers and others in the community who have taken
weather-spotter classes over the years can still work as spotters
for the National Weather Service and report what they are seeing
directly to them.
DESCOM will also still receive weather reports directly from the
National Weather Service, Hardin said.
“The general public is not going to see much change at all, if any,”
Hardin added.
SKYWARN volunteers that are not a member of Des Moines County’s
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) have been instructed to
turn in their SKYWARN radios and badges to the Des Moines County
Emergency Management Office and remove the SKYWARN frequency from
their personal radios by April 14.
Des Moines County Emergency Agency is still planning to have
volunteers help with the monthly siren and hold radio checks. More
information on those initiatives will be released at a later time.
Hardin said the SKYWARN program may be revived in the future if
enough volunteers become available to consistently maintain the
program.
“I just want to say that these volunteers have been incredible over
the years,” Hardin said.
“They would watch the storms two or three days out, and keep an eye
on what’s happening, and were ready to drop anything, whatever they
were doing, and go to weather ops and go out to their weather
spotting locations at the drop of a hat.
“They put a lot of time and effort into over the years. It’s
heartbreaking that we don’t enough people to keep it going.”
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This site was last updated
Friday, October 10, 2025 10:08:24 PM
By: R.S.W.S. |
