Daniel Fritz has completed his OK-First Certification. Fritz, who is already a City of Seminole Emergency Management Trained Spotter, has gone beyond the required annual National Weather Service Spotter Training to become OK-First Certified.

OK-First is an outreach program of the Oklahoma Mesonet that provides Oklahoma’s public safety community with weather education and access to critical real-time weather data. Since beginning classes in 1997, OK-First has trained more than 1,900 public safety officials and currently has nearly 900 active members participating in the program. OK-First operates with financial support from the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety and is operated by the Oklahoma Mesonet. OK-First training and data are provided at no cost to eligible participants in Oklahoma and counties bordering the state.

Fritz joins Jeff Griffin, Bob Swearingen, Steve Saxon, Bryant Baker, Michael Burnett and Ernie Willis who have previously been OK-First Certified. Retired Seminole EM Director Herb Gunter was also OK-First Certified.

“Seminole is very fortunate to have such an excellent group of trained and committed spotters willing to donate their time and put themselves in harm’s way to provide warning to her citizens,” said Emergency Management Director Ernie Willis.