Mayors, city officials, fire chiefs and emergency services personnel gathered Tuesday night to discuss the future of the tornado warning sirens and the need for other notification systems.
The meeting was part of an ongoing special Marion County Board Committee formed to deal with the issue as a countywide issue and problems that have developed with the inability of the Centralia and Salem 911 dispatch centers to activate all of the sirens.
Committee Chair Steve Whritenour is pleased with the progress being made.
“The purpose behind this meeting tonight was to get all the EMT’s that we could in Marion County here to have an open honest discussion about not just our current outdoor weather alerts, but also to come up with an alternative or another method to notify the citizens. The Mayor of Wamac Butch Mathis said it best, we are all here to protect the citizens of Marion County. So any other ways we can notify the citizens that is exactly what we are going to do.”
Steps that were taken Tuesday night include bids being sought from the two vendors familiar with the county’s 911 system to get the Salem and Centralia 911 centers to ‘talk to each other’ so all of the weather warning sirens can be set off by either center in the event of tornado activity.
Marion County ESDA Coordinator Sheri Barter will seek bids for maintenance of the tornado warning sirens to keep them operating since most communities seemed in favor of keeping the sirens. Each city or village would be responsible for the cost of needed repairs to their siren. At least two sirens are currently not in operation awaiting parts. Salem City Officials said they would further access the issues with their non-working sirens.
The committee had earlier heard a proposal from Hyper-Link that could deliver emergency messages through both cell and landline phones or via e-mail. But Assistant Salem Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Andrew Strong feels Everbridge or Nixel can provide the same services without having the start the registration process over again. He said Salem currently had about 1,500 signed up for the warning service. However other communities using Nixel had not had good success getting people to sign up.
The group also agreed to continue to look at re-establishing shelters for those in mobile homes or without a safe place in their homes to go in the event of a tornado headed towards their community. Often times now residents are aware of the pending severe weather, but with little resources to protect themselves or their families.
The committee will meet again at six pm on October 18th to further review the options available from a countywide Nixel or Hyperlink Service. The group hopes the system selected could also allow for warnings to be issued to specific neighborhoods about issues just affecting them.
Whritenour is hoping the group can work very quickly to some type of solution to replace the current patchwork system not available to all residents.
