TheJefferson residents will have less confusion and hopefully respond with more urgency should the outdoor warning sirens sound for severe weather. The city council, acting on a recommendation from the new code/law enforcement committee, approved a resolution to change the policy describing when the sirens are activated.
Police chief Dave Morlan said the goal is to activate the sirens only when there is imminent danger in Jefferson. The current policy calls for the sirens to be activated when the National Weather Service issues a warning for any part of Greene County. The sirens have been activated while the sun was shining, allowing residents to become complacent.
Going forward, the sirens will sound when the city of Jefferson is in a zone based warning from the NWS, or when a trained spotter reports a tornado or funnel cloud. The sirens will also sound when winds 70 mph or greater are predicted or occurring in Jefferson. (The damaging winds in Jefferson last Aug. 31 were in the 50 mph range.)
The sirens will sound for three to five minutes when the warning is issued, and may be sounded again every 10 to 15 minutes for the duration of the threat. There will not by an “all clear” signal.
Greene County emergency management director Dennis Morlan is happy to see the change. In a GreeneCountyNewsOnline interview Wednesday, Morlan said, “I’m thrilled with the city council for passing the resolution.”
He said that with the abundance of weather information, including weather apps on cell phones, most people are aware of threatening weather. The purpose of a siren is to tell residents it’s time to take cover. “I firmly believe over-utilization of the sirens promotes complacency in John Q. Public. I think strongly that when the sirens sound, there should be one response and one response only – take shelter,” Dennis Morlan said.
Every town in the county has warning sirens, but Jefferson is the only town not using a policy of imminent danger to determine when to sound them. Morlan explained that the sirens in the outlying towns are activated in each town, but that they can be remotely activated at the county Law Enforcement Center in Jefferson also.
He explained that Greene County has one of the best siren systems in the state because the sirens all have battery back-ups. They usually operate on AC, but back-up is available in the event of a power outage.
In Jefferson, sirens will be tested the first and third Tuesday of each month at 10 am. The first test will be of the AC system; the second test will be of the battery operated system.
Dennis Morlan also recommends weather radios. “A weather radio programmed to Greene County, and only Greene County, is the best insurance policy you can possibly buy,” he said.
Council member Shannon Black is on the law and code enforcement committee. She said the committee is also discussing parking policies for the city right-of-way between the curb and sidewalk, and the snow parking ordinance. The committee will likely recommend changes to the snow parking ordinance before next winter.
