Siren test falls silent; human error discovered
11:22 a.m. Monday, April 21, 2008
When the area was supposed to hear the wail of a loud tornado siren blaring across the sky -- as part of a routine siren test -- residents heard nothing. A test of the county and city emergency siren system produced no sound, and that has Shawnee County Emergency Management scrambling, Emergency Management Director Dave Sterbenz said.
After a few hours of investigating, technicians discovered the sirens' failure was due to a human programming error, not a mechanical error, Sterbenz said.
The lack of a working siren system poses a problem for area residents as a potential for severe weather in Shawnee County exists today. Meteorologist Craig Gold says a possibility of thunderstorms is in the forecast for this afternoon. The main threat will be high winds and hail, and a tornado cannot be ruled out.
However, Sterbenz said the problem with the sirens will be fixed by the end of the afternoon. He also said the investigation revealed a back-up system that can be used in case other attempts to sound the sirens fail.
The sirens were not scheduled for a routine test today, but a test April 14 did not go as planned, he said. Emergency management thought dispatch was able to sound the sirens after a failed attempt from the emergency management operations center; it wasn't until today officials realized dispatchers hadn't sounded the alarms either, Sterbenz said.
Sterbenz said the public would be notified via the media when the sirens are fixed. Keep it tuned to 49 ABC News or ktka.com for more information as it becomes available.
If you have questions, call Shawnee County Emergency Management (785) 233-8200.
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