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Are you prepared for a tornado?Apr 08, 2012 (Belleville News-Democrat - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- In this tornado season, what do you need to know about emergency notification to be safe? It's important to note that depending on the city you're in, you may or may not hear a siren to alert you to a tornado. Some areas don't have sirens and sometimes sirens malfunction. Area sirens are typically electric with battery or solar power back-up, but other errors could occur, such as a transmission failure. Cities with sirens have different criteria for sounding them. Most cities sound the sirens when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning for their area. That means a tornado was sighted by a trained spotter or weather conditions are ripe for a tornado. But some cities also do so for other emergencies, such as damaging winds or fire calls. Sirens are typically tested on the first Tuesday of every month. Emergency workers want residents to know that sirens are meant to alert people who are outdoors, and not those in a building or car. Sirens also don't tell you how close the tornado is, so if you hear a siren, you should seek more information by checking the news or listening to a weather radio. Some cities have bypassed getting sirens and are instead purchasing phone or email notification systems to warn residents of severe weather. Sign up is typically free for residents. These cities believe robocall systems are cheaper and more dependable and flexible. This way more people are reached, even if they're indoors, sleeping or out of town. What is St. Clair County doing? Randy Lay, the county's emergency management agency director, said the county activates some of the sirens since they have a 24/7 dispatch center, but cities also activate and maintain their own sirens. Lay said the county is in early stages of considering a weather alert system by phone. Many cities in the county already have such a system, but he said it will be most economical if everyone joins in on a countywide system. Anthony D. Vinson Sr., East St. Louis director of emergency services and disaster agency, said the city would benefit greatly from a phone system. Two of the city's three sirens need repairs and most residents have access to a phone. Belleville Deputy Fire Chief Steve Klingler said the city has no plans to get new sirens as long as the existing ones are working. The city has had to perform regular maintenance on the sirens, such as replacing the belts that drive them. The city has used the Hyper-Reach alert system for the past three years to alert residents of emergencies and weather alerts. Residents who sign up for the free system could personalize the alerts to come by phone or email. O'Fallon also uses a phone system along with sirens, said Michele Fulton, the city's communication coordinator. O'Fallon activates their sirens for tornado warnings as well as severe storm and high wind warnings in which gusts are expected to exceed 58 mph, Fulton said. O'Fallon does not use its CodeRED phone system for weather alerts because severe weather often involves "really unpredictable changes that are often time critical," Fulton said. Fulton also said that residents should not call police dispatchers to find out why sirens have been sounded during a storm. "We could miss someone's emergency while trying to answer their call when they could tune into their weather radio," Fulton said. What is Madison County doing? Board members are considering the implementation of a countywide phone emergency notification system that could mass dial or email everyone in a database, according to Larry Ringering, the county's emergency management agency director. The county does not own any sirens, and individual cities activate their own sirens. A phone system would complement existing sirens and especially benefit areas such as Alton, Godfrey and Hamel, which do not have tornado sirens, Ringering said. Alton Mayor Tom Hoechst said there are sirens at the Argosy Casino and one of the city's golf courses, but the city does not own or operate any. About 12 years ago, the city figured out how many sirens it would need to install to reach all its residents because of the hilly terrain, and learned it would not be financially feasible, Hoechst said. Godfrey Mayor Michael J. McCormick said the village's boundaries are vast because of agricultural land, and it would have cost the village about $450,000 for a siren system. A phone system costs less and reaches more people. "I think it's far more efficient and far more dependable than the old-fashioned tornado sirens," McCormick said. Glen Carbon Police Lt. Mark Foley said a countywide system would help police provide residents with a phone system that has weather alerts. The village has CodeRED for alerts such as gas leaks, child abductions or road closures, but the city could not afford the extra cost for weather alerts. What is Monroe County doing? Monroe County uses Global Connect, a reverse-911 system, to notify residents of a range of issues, from severe weather to missing children. Published land lines are automatically signed up, but cell phones must be registered manually. Monroe County Emergency Management Agency Director Ryan Weber said the county has some cities, such as Columbia and Hecker, that use their own sirens. But the population of county residents are so sparse that county officials couldn't justify installing sirens, Weber said. The phone system is a cost-efficient way to alert everyone in the county. And, it still allows individual cities to send notifications specific to their areas. For example, only Waterloo residents would be alerted to a boil order there. Weber said he will soon meet with all the mayors in the county and will recommend they set a countywide standard for when to sound the sirens. Residents might be desensitized to the sirens if they're sounded too often or they might get confused if they're sounded for too many things. Weber said the National Weather Service is working on narrowing down tornado warnings to specific parts of a county. For example, residents in the northern part of a county might not get an alert if the path of the tornado is through the southern part of the county. What are some issues? -- Fairview Heights has budgeted $200,000 this year for a completely new system to comply with federal law. The city has 12 sirens, but had to fix nine of them in March after they failed during a routine test most likely because of a faulty transmitter. Collinsville and Glen Carbon City also are making repairs to their tornado siren systems to comply with the new law. -- Two of the three sirens in East St. Louis need repairs -- and one needs major repairs. The city is applying for grants in hopes of repairing them this year. For now, to notify residents of emergencies, police officers drive up and down city streets and use their vehicle intercom systems to blare emergency messages. -- A siren at Melvin Price Park in Swansea is electric and does not have a battery back-up. Swansea Fire Chief John McGuire said that if the park siren fails, parkgoers would be able to hear a siren on North Belt West. -- A siren by Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville occasionally goes off on its own, most likely because the radio-activated siren is getting a stray frequency. How else can I prepare? -- Visit www.state.il.us/iema for tornado preparedness info from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. -- Visit www.weatherusa.net/alerts to sign up for free National Weather Service alerts. -- Visit www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/?n=skywarn if you're interested in taking a weather preparation or tornado spotting class. Contact reporter Jacqueline Lee at [email protected] or 239-2655. ___ (c)2012 the Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.) Visit the Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.) at www.bnd.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |