emergency warning sirens (Dallas, Abilene, Deer Park: contractors, tornado, live in)

[tc02]

I heard the city warning siren sound a few minutes ago (~12noon, 02 Jan 2008).

How do I know for what purpose the siren is being sounded ? I do understand the difference between the emergency alert sound and the severe weather alert sound (http://www.cityofcarrollton.com/publicsafety/fire/emergency%20management.asp). However, as far as the emergency alert sound is concerned, how do I know what the emergency is or whether is just a test of the siren ?

I hope that the answer isn't "tune to your local AM news station and listen for public announcements" ; I have little confidence that this will provide timely location specific information. I would imagine that the government entity that is operating the siren must / should have a local information source (website, radio, telephone, mobile text message, etc) that can provide information specific to the sounding of the siren.

I did learn from a web search that the siren that I heard was probably a test : http://www.plano.gov/Departments/PublicSafetyCommunications/warnsys.htm . However, I'm not sure that I'll remember 6mo from now that the 1st Wednesday of the month is siren test day.


Some cities document their public warning systems much better than others ; the Moore OK warning system information page is pretty good : http://www.cityofmoore.com/emermgt/warnsys.htm .

In addition to soliciting some useful information about my local area warning systems and procedures, let's use this thread as a sort of poll to find out how many people feel that the know what is happening when they hear a warning siren. Just post a reply to say something like this :

"
zip code = 12345
I have no idea if it means the end of the world or police coffee break.
I know that it means this ___, because it is documented here ___ .
"

[Spree]

I heard one in Dallas at about 1 pm. Testing I think.

[Trainwreck20]

However, I'm not sure that I'll remember 6mo from now that the 1st Wednesday of the month is siren test day.

I have worked in several industrial locations, and you generally have to learn when the tests are (usually from the locals). When you hear the siren, you think "uh, oh, what is today? Oh, it is Monday and it is 1 pm, so that is the test...". I never think about it until I hear it, though, and there is that momentary sinking feeling .

[CallMeLaura]

Generally, if it's not cloudy and the siren goes off, I assume it's a test.

I agree that it would be nice to know, but how do you expect the cities to notify you? The siren pretty much just makes that noise and not everyone watches the news or reads the paper or looks in the phonebook, etc.

But then, I usually know the day before a front arrives and watch the skies for signs of impending doom...

[Poltracker]

I live/work in an industrial area. The City here has been pretty good about training everyone on the city signals. In fact, when you move in they give you a welcoming basket with all that info included among other things. The ISD also drills the kids pretty regularly too. So every first Thursday at 6, we know to listen for the alarm. If it sounds at some other time...we know to expect a Reverse 911 call from the City explaining what it is about (they also have their own cable station they make anouncements on). The Reverse 911 works pretty quickly (last used for Hurricane Rita Evac).

The problem that drives me nuts is that each chemical plant also tests its sirens 1X per week. They do it in zones and each plant within the zone has a different time. It drives me nuts because I can't remeber who tests when. I've just learned that if it as the top of the hour (I almost always check the clock) don't worry about it.

BTW this was a timely post because I was just going through this as the plant behind my office (1/4 mile) tested their sirens about 20 minutes ago.

[Trainwreck20]

Most of the time, the plant sirens are for personnel in the plant. If the release or event is going to affect the city, the city sirens should sound as well. Of course, if you live right next to the plant, it is probably a good idea to get their little reminder card that most employees and contractors get. I have a few from Tx City, but none from Deer Park .

[JamesAbilene]

If you live in a place like Pampa, where I grew up, you had the triple threat of tornadoes, chemical plants, and possible nuclear disaster from the Pantex plant. They test at least one day a month. When I am there visiting, and one of the alarms go off, I always panic for a moment, but the last time I was there when it happened, they gave a verbal announcemen through the alarm system that it was a test, so no one had to panic when it happened.

[JamesAbilene]

By the way, I was thankful that Pampa had a system of alarms. It concerns me that Abilene does not. Abilene is on the edge of the tornado belt and tornadoes normally are north of us, but I would still be very happy to have an alarm system here. I know Pampa had a serious chemical plant explosion in 1986, a tornado in 1969, and a huge tornado in 1995. My relatives were thankful for the alarm in 1995. Even though the tornado was huge, there were no deaths. The 1969 tornado killed 39 people in several cities. I lived in Pampa then and was awakened by the alarms. I think the death toll would have been higher if not for the alarm system. I don't know if they went off in 1986 when Celanese Chemical blew up. I do know that the noise of the explosion terrified my mother. And, there were some deaths in that explosion.