Longtime EMA Director honored at retirement party

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

He’s seen it all — tornadoes, floods, wind storms, a powerful derecho and other types of emergencies and now, after 35 years and six months, Van Wert County Emergency Management Agency Director Rick McCoy is stepping away from the job. His last official day will be this Thursday as he heads off into retirement.

His long career was celebrated by a steady stream of people at the EMA office Tuesday afternoon. Friends, family, county officials, well-wishers and many others poured into the building to congratulate him on his retirement. Van Wert County Commissioner Todd Wolfrum, State Representative Roy Klopfenstein and other elected officials presented him with proclamations. The man who hired McCoy as EMA Director, George Ropp, shared a few kind words and wished him the best in retirement.

National Weather Service Northern Indiana Warning Coordination Meteorologist Dustin Norman was present and praised McCoy, noting he was instrumental in creating the Syracuse, Indiana office, which serves 37 counties, including eight in Ohio.

“Out of our 37 counties, I’d like to say you’re one of our more engaged ones,” Norman said. “We can always rely on you to send damage pictures and storm reports.”

National Weather Service Director Ken Graham also lauded McCoy via a video hookup and wished him all the best in retirement.

While reflecting on his career and his upcoming retirement, McCoy noted it’s a bittersweet time for him.

“I’ve looked forward to it but it’s sort of tough walking away,” McCoy said. “A lot people work their entire lives and sometimes they’re not real thrilled with the job or it’s just a job to them to get that salary. For me this was sort of a passion that I’ve really enjoyed.”

Without a doubt, the biggest event during McCoy’s watch was the November 10, 2002, F-4 tornado that barreled through Van Wert County. The twister, which packed winds of 207-260 miles per hour killed two county residents, injured 19 others and left behind tens of millions of dollars in damage. Afterward, it was designated as the worst tornado in Van Wert County history.

While the two deaths, the injuries and the damage were devestating, it would have been much worse. McCoy sounded the county’s tornado sirens nearly 30 minutes before it entered the county, potentially saving hundreds of lives. Because of his actions, he was presented with NOAA’s National Storm Ready Community Hero Award and was the first person in the United States to receive it at a ceremony in Washington D.C.

It was noted that since McCoy became EMA Director, 35 tornadoes have hit Van Wert County, which ranks the county No. 1 in the state since 1990. One of his goals was to prepare the county for tornadoes due the frequency, and worked toward getting Van Wert County certified under the National Storm Ready Program. In January of 2002, he along with Huron County became the first two counties to reach the achievement. The certification paid off in November of 2002.

McCoy said other memorable weather events included the 1992 flood in Willshire that led to a presidential declaration, and a June, 2012 derechio that pummeled the county.

It created such havoc in the county with 80-90 mile per hour winds,” he recalled. “Some areas were without power for 12-14 days.”

 Another memorable event occurred just last month – a powerful wind storm that literally blew through the county.

“That had never affected me before in 35 years to where I had to make a decision that we weren’t going to let school buses on the road and getting the superintendents to work with me on that,” McCoy said. “That was sort of a rare situation.”

Along with the role as Ohio’s current longest tentured EMA director, McCoy also has an IMDb page for his role in the 2015 movie “Sharkando 3: Oh Hell No!”

“After that (2002 tornado), my name became recognized and I spoke at many conferences around the country,” McCoy said. “I was asked to do a short blurb in the Sharknado 3 movie where they needed someone doing the weather announcing on the radio so I came on three different times in that movie to give emergency management announcements on where the tropical storm was and of course that got everyone ready for the sharks as they were coming in. That was sort of cool to be involved with that.”

Perhaps the biggest change during McCoy’s long tenure has been technology.

“The old radar that we used to have and now we have the doppler NexRad radar, all the capability with wifi and internet and so many screens with different radars to look at,” he said. “Technology continues to advance and I see the future in AI forecasting – the National Weather Service will be using that a lot.”

Prior to his career at EMA, McCoy spent time as Convoy Village Marshal and as a Van Wert County Sheriff’s deputy, giving him 49 years of employment in the county.

What’s next for McCoy?

“I’d like to travel and a lot of people who know me know I like to go to Florida,” he said. “I want to spend time with my five grandkids and we like to fish so we’ll be out at the pond doing that and doing little hobbies here and there.”

One of EMA’s deputy directors, Matt Saunier, will step into the director’s role. He’s been on job full time for two months, learning from McCoy.