Peoria County officials are seeking public feedback and clearing up misunderstandings about the outdoor emergency sirens.
“I think the biggest reason we’re reaching out to the public is just to ensure that they’re familiar with the outdoor warning siren system — that it exists, that it’s out there,” said Jason Marks, director of Emergency Management and Preparedness with the Peoria City/County Health Department and Peoria County Emergency Management Agency [EMA].
The county held the first in a series of town hall meetings about the warning siren system on Monday in Peoria Heights. Other events are scheduled across the county throughout the summer.
“We’ve seen some instances in some other communities recently where they’ve had issues with outdoor warning sirens, and so our hope is maybe even to gather some information from the public as to their thoughts on it: What can we be doing better? But ultimately, we want people to recognize that when they hear that siren, to seek shelter and try to get more information,” said Marks.
Marks said most often the sirens are used for tornado warnings, but they can indicate a hazardous materials incident or other emergency situation. He stressed the sirens are solely for outdoor warnings and are not meant to be heard indoors.
“One of the first misconceptions is that there’s an ‘all clear,’” he said. “We don’t sound an ‘all clear.’ Again, the siren is designed to notify you to go inside, seek shelter, and then to gather more information as to what’s happening.”
Also, just because a siren stops, that doesn’t mean the threat is over.
“If you’re outdoors and you can’t seek a shelter indoors, find a ditch to get into — and when we talk about a ‘ditch,’ we’re talking about a real ditch, not just a shallow little 2-foot thing. Something that’s very deep, that provides you some security,” said Marks.
Marks noted while many people can get emergency notifications on their cell phones, the siren warning system acts as a necessary redundancy.
“There’s certain locations in Peoria County where cell service maybe isn’t as strong as others, so you may not receive that notification,” he said, adding that some of the county’s 82 outdoor sirens are positioned in locations where people gather for outdoor activity, such as Wildlife Prairie Park.
Marks said that most people are aware the sirens are tested at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, but there are instances when that can change.
“For example, if there’s a severe thunderstorm watch that day or even a tornado watch that morning, we’re not going to activate the sirens for a test on a day that there’s a potential for a live emergency,” he said, noting the system conducts additional tests every night with a tone that’s inaudible to the human ear.
The next town hall meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the West Peoria City Hall. Future events are set for the Limestone Central Firehouse [May 27], the Lake Camelot Fire Station in Mapleton [June 9], and Brimfield Public Library [Aug. 5], with possibly more to come.
