The Salem City Council has approved a $48,000 bid to replace the tornado warning siren that was destroyed when falling to the ground during a storm earlier this year.
Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Andrew Strong says the new siren will work with the rest of the those in the city and county.
“There’s less electronics in it,” Strong said. “All the issues we’ve had with those warning sirens have usually been power related. They’ve had surges from the 110-volt power to them. This one would be totally solar powered, which is what a lot of municipalities have gone to. The NAL siren has tripped several times over the past month or two or three. A lot of it has just been power surge, so I don’t think we’ll see the issues.”
Strong expects installation in about eight weeks. The siren will be checked yearly under a maintenance contract Marion County has for all the sirens in the county.
The city will not have to pay the total amount for the new siren. The city’s insurance will pay $19,000 of the cost. The siren was first installed free of charge around the year 2000 when Marion County received a grant to install tornado warning sirens around the county.
The council was told the tornado warning siren on East Main Street near the railroad underpass is not working, but there are no plans to replace it.
