March 17, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
Should the City of Smithville invest in outdoor Tornado warning sirens?
Mayor Josh Miller raised the issue during a work session Monday night with the aldermen and Smithville Fire Chief and DeKalb Emergency Management Agency Director Charlie Parker.
Currently the city’s only outdoor warning alert is an antiquated siren atop the city hall building.
“I don’t think our warning system is what it needs to be. I don’t think a siren on top of city hall is sufficient. When it goes off they don’t hear it on the west side of town,” said Mayor Miller.
“The siren on city hall is a push button mechanical siren and someone has to be there to push the button when needed. If we were to use it the way it is, central dispatch would get the warning from the weather service and have to contact a police officer who would have to get up here to city hall and push the button. It’s not the best system,” said Parker.
Automated tornado sirens strategically placed across the city could be set up to activate when tornado warnings are issued for this area.
When the siren is activated, it would sound alerting the public to seek shelter immediately.
Mayor Miller said he would like to have outdoor tornado warning sirens placed on city owned water towers near the high school, on Miller Road, and near the airport as well as a new one at city hall and possibly at another location on the Sparta Highway.
Although outdoor tornado sirens are effective , Parker said they are not as reliable at night when people are at home asleep.
“Outdoor sirens are not really made to notify everybody at night when they are asleep especially with the way houses are constructed nowadays but if you live close to one it will rattle you out of bed. I am all for installing the first one at the high school. We already have a water tower there and that would be easy to set up. It also makes sense with the high school and middle schools and their outdoor sports facilities so close by. I don’t think it would be that expensive to do it there,” said Parker.
It is also important to make the sirens automated so they will trigger automatically without having to rely on dispatching.
“I have talked to DeKalb 911 Director Brad Mullinax and he is getting us some prices on a system that would go off through electronic switching. The one we are looking at would trigger up to 10 different devices or sirens. I am talking to another company about the cost of buying and installing the sirens. Part of the cost of doing the switching is in securing a location with the needed power and wireless connections. That would be easy to set up at the water towers where we already have those facilities.
Parker said he is also seeking the advice of another service for a possible study on the types of sirens to obtain, either directional or omni-directional and exactly where to place them to cover most of the city.
No action has yet been taken.
Chief Parker also reminded the mayor and aldermen that in DeKalb County, residents have access to a free service called Hyper-Reach, a state of the art mass emergency notification system, designed specifically for public safety. Through Hyper-Reach residents can get automatic tornado warning alerts over landline telephones or cell phones the moment they are issued for DeKalb County. Landline phones are automatically registered but weather alerts to mobile phones are only included by enrolling in the system.
(Click link below to register for weather alerts)
https://signup.hyper-reach.com/hyper_reach/sign_up_page_2/?id=25544