Photos (L to R): Roderick Carrasco, T-Mobile; Jim Tanner, EMAT President; Director Patrick Sheehan, TEMA; Will Minkoff, Bold Planning; Tammy Roberts, SERVPRO
Putnam County Director of Emergency Management, Tyler Smith, recognized with Statewide Bill Worth award for excellence in senior leadership during response to 2020 tornado.
PUTNAM COUNTY, TENN – In over thirty years of service to Putnam County, EMA Director Tyler Smith never imagined what he would be met with on the morning of March 3rd, 2020. According to County Mayor Randy Porter, Smith rose to the occasion and, without hesitation, began to lead the County’s response and activated the Emergency Operations Center.
“Tyler has been around and has been a staple in emergency preparedness for years, but he stepped up like nobody I’ve ever seen before when the tornado hit,” stated Mayor Porter, who nominated Smith for the award. The Bill Worth award is presented by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Emergency Management Association of Tennessee, at their annual conference in Franklin, TN.
Before the storm ever hit, Smith was in the Emergency Operations Center’s Severe Weather Operations Room, preparing and warning the public a severe storm was approaching. In those moments, Smith knew there were going to be some strong storms, which had already damaged areas of East Nashville, but he could never foresee the impacts it would have in Putnam County.
Smith recalled the hours leading up to the storm: “I knew there was a tornado on the ground in Nashville and Lebanon and it was doing damage, but I never imaged what it would do here,” he noted.
According to Mayor Porter, everyone who was in the EOC, and the field, knew the impact of the planning Smith has headed up for years. “We have had LEPC and have had meetings all the time preparing. When I was working emergency services, Tyler was always the one leading our discussions about planning for disasters, and we all knew it was possible here, but we never realized how truly beneficial that planning would be. We owe much of that to Tyler,” Porter stated. “He has also worked very hard on our public warning systems. When it’s storming and has the chance of being severe, Tyler is there, monitoring the storm and notifying the community. He makes a lot of things happen behind the scenes that nobody realizes,” he continued.
Smith has spent his entire career in public safety. In fact, the County’s Emergency Operations Center is named after his dad, Sam Smith, who was the County’s original Civil Defense director. When asked about the recognition, Smith replied, “I was not expecting that. It’s very nice but I was not expecting that– it really is humbling.”
Porter concluded, “We are blessed to have Tyler leading our communty’s emergency preparedness. He has spent decades protecting and responding to our community, and I’m proud to he his peers agree and recognize him publicly.”
The complete nomination reads:
This nomination is to recognize Tyler Smith, EMA director for Putnam County, Tennessee, for his excellence and dedication during the response to the 3MAR2020 tornado that devastated Putnam County, taking the lives of nineteen citizens.
Throughout his 25+ year career with the Putnam County Emergency Management Agency, Director Smith has relentlessly focused his efforts on community awareness and emergency preparedness, often spending nights and weekends away from his family to ensure the community had all the information to be as safe as possible when disaster struck. Many times, he would activate the severe weather operations room of the County EOC, where he would monitor approaching severe weather for hours, for only one reason – to help warn the community of the pending threat.
In the hours, days, and weeks following the most-devastating disaster to ever strike Putnam County, Director Smith led the Emergency Operations Center and directed the overall response and resource management to bring the community back to its feet.
The countless hours of preparation fueled an impeccable response, which led to the effective recovery of a community, all during a global pandemic where resources and personnel were scarce.
It is my opinion, this would have been a far more devastating event, with more lives lost, were it not for the selfless dedication of Putnam County EMA Director Tyler Smith and his insistence on others knowing how to prepare and receive emergency alerts. His passion for the citizens of Putnam County saved many lives that fateful day and he is to be commended for his service. Putnam County is a much safer community because of EMA Director Tyler Smith.