Altus AFB to conduct severe weather exercise

  • Published

The 97th Air Mobility Wing will be conducting a severe weather –Aircraft Fly-Away exercise on 21 May 1200hrs – 1600hrs.

The city of Altus and base residents will hear a short test of the Installation Warning Notification System sirens at the start of the exercise. Residents on and/or near the Installation may also hear broadcasted severe weather alerts and alert radio messages. All training messages will begin and end with "exercise, exercise, exercise."  In the event of real world inclement weather on May 21st, all standard emergency notification systems will be used.

Vehicle, contractor and pedestrian entrance gates (Main Gate and South) will not close for in-bound and out-bound traffic while alarms are sounding and during the shelter testing phase, Daily base services are expected to have minimal interruption during the beginning of the exercise.

City of Altus residents can visit the city's emergency management site at https://www.altusok.gov/158/Emergency-Management for updates about the latest severe weather actions and to receive guidance on how to prepare a survival kit. Base residents can contact their respective unit emergency management representative for more information. As a reminder, base and city personnel can sign up for real time alerts at https://www.altusok.gov/194/Citizen-Notification-System-Everbridge.

For further information about the exercise contact the 97th Public Affairs Office at (580) 481-7700 or for information about the city's emergency procedures, contact the City of Altus Emergency Management Director at (580) 481-2260.