Officials consider installing tornado sirens

The question of installing tornado sirens in this mountainous region is one local emergency management authorities are considering after last year?s killer tornadoes in Glade Spring, Va., and other areas, as well as small tornadoes already confirmed in other parts of Southwest Virginia this year.

Committees are looking into where sirens could be placed in Sullivan County, said Jim Bean, the county?s emergency management director.

?The biggest thing is, when it goes off, is there enough public information out there that you know what to do when the siren goes off,? he said. ?Right now, the biggest thing is educating the public before the fact.?

He said the mountains also prove problematic for using tornado sirens, which are loudspeaker-type devices mounted on poles that can be made to sound in the event of an emergency.

?Sirens are very helpful in areas prone to tornadoes because they don?t have mountains ? you can hear for miles and miles,? he said. ?Here, you could set a siren up and not hear it around the hill.?

Washington County, Va., doesn?t have tornado sirens, nor are there immediate plans to install them, said Pokey Harris, the county?s emergency management director.

She said the issue when considering tornado sirens is the fact that a tornado siren covers only a small area.

?You have to weigh the cost against time and location. We live in a mountainous area,? she said. ?There are a lot of considerations that don?t make the sirens? a good option for the county.

However, the county is a National Weather Service designated ?StormReady? county, which means it meets certain guidelines including having storm shelters, a way to disseminate information and a hazardous weather response plan.

Harris said county officials share weather-related information primarily through working with TV and radio partners, through the county?s website and also by phone. People with a landline are automatically in the emergency notification system, and people can register their cell phones for the Citizens Emergency Alerting System.

Bristol, Va., doesn?t have tornado sirens, having gotten rid of them a few years ago, said Police Chief W.H. Price, the city?s emergency management director. He said there?s been discussion about the possibility of bringing them back, but right now city officials use the 911 reverse calling system like the county uses.

?All this in the last year or so is causing everybody to rethink [their emergency systems] because we didn?t have them [tornadoes] before,? he said.

There are five tornado sirens in Bristol, Tenn., which perhaps some Bristol, Va., residents can hear.

?We?re in the process of adding more to provide coverage,? said Virginia Smelser, Bristol, Tenn., communications manager. ?The sirens we have now were installed in the ?50s and ?60s, and all were serviced this year.?

She said the sirens have ?fair? coverage throughout the city.

?They?re designed for outdoor notification,? she said. ?They may not wake people up, but we use the ? calling system for that.?

The sirens are only set off if there?s a tornado warning from the weather service that specifically mentions Bristol, Tenn., she said.

?If it is a sudden warning, the sirens go off intermittently,? Smelser said. ?If it?s a good warning, we only set them off one time. If it?s a reissue we will set them off again. They blow for three minutes at a time ? it?s a way to let people know there is a warning and they should seek immediate shelter.?

The sirens are near the Bristol Public Library?s Avoca extension, in the parking lot near Charley?s Subs on Volunteer Parkway, in a field between Broad and Bay streets, and at the fire stations on Bluff City Highway and King College Road.

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arobinson@bristolnews.com
(276) 645-2531

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Register your cell phone with local reverse-911 systems:

Washington County, Va. ? www.washcova.com/how-do-i/register/citizens-alerting-system

Sullivan County, Tenn. ? not currently available, but in the works

Bristol, Tenn. ? https://alerts-1.deltalert.com/optin/start.xhtml?clientId=114098179

Bristol, Va. ? not currently available

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ONLINE:

Enter keyword: EMERGENCY for links to register your cell phone number for reverse-911 emergency calls.

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