Three of Salem’s five outdoor warning sirens currently are not working.
Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Andrew Strong says the siren in Bryan Memorial Park did not sound during the June test. The sirens at the Marion County Fairgrounds and next to the Salem Tire Warehouse on East Main Street near the US 50 railroad underpass have not been functional.
Strong has asked for the siren company to review the sirens to see what it would cost to repair them. He notes with every community maintaining its own sirens, the system no longer functions as it should.
“Everybody sees a different vendor, there’s been all sorts of things happen and we’ve patched things long enough we need to either do away with them, which nobody really wants to do because they are vital. Or we look at grants to update the county-wide system to get us all on the same platform.”
Strong says the warning siren pole behind Taco Bell is leaning over even more since the recent storm activity. He noted the last quote they received for just replacing the pole was $10,000.
Most of the existing sirens were put into place with a grant the county received following the tornado that hit the south side of Salem in the 1990s.
The Marion County Board will hear proposals at three upcoming meetings from vendors who would like to install an advanced outdoor weather warning siren system throughout the county.
