City Considers Options For Alert Sirens

Fairbury has a number of sirens throughout the city to warn the public of emergencies, such as tornadoes or other dangerous weather events. Not all of those sirens are currently operational and some require either significant maintenance or to be replaced. Fairbury City Council members once again discussed options for the city’s aging emergency sirens during their meeting on Tuesday, September 7.The issue has become a contentious one since the possibility of eliminating the sirens altogether was raised during a previous City Council meeting on June 1 of this year. An alternative is to have residents sign up for an alert system that contacts residents via phone when there is an emergency. Jefferson County currently uses a company called Alertsense to issue mass alerts via email and phone for emergencies.If Fairbury did move to an alert system, it would not be the first City in Jefferson County to do so. Endicott currently uses an alert system.John McKee, Emergency Manager for Jefferson and Saline Counties, said at the meeting, “I am not making a recommendation. I gave you the options the last time I was here of what goes on around the country. And it was up to you folks to decide which way you want it to go. My personal feeling is they should be kept.”McKee obtained some specifications for sirens from a company called Federal Signal and provided the Council with different options. One model is rotating, which would have a broader coverage than a stationary siren, “A rotating siren will put out a louder decibel level, out further because it's making three revolutions a minute or something like that.”McKee said Omaha, Lincoln and Beatrice all use similar rotating sirens.The estimated cost for the rotating sirens is $20,000 a piece or more.Another possibility is a public address (PA) adress system. McKee said, “The ones at the museum and up at the north substation, those are PA capable. You're looking $35,000, $40,000 a siren. We can go that way. It doesn't have as good coverage.”McKee also noted that a decision will need to be made soon, “I would like to see you do something because we're eight, nine months out for a siren if we order it today. That's a long ways. That takes us past next season.”It might even be longer. McKee noted, “I haven't talked to them (Federal Signal) since the hurricanes down south and back east. That's taken out a lot more sirens, so I don't know what it's going to be.”A number of individuals complained on social media they could not hear the sirens inside their homes. McKee pointed out, as he has done several times in the past, “Again, this is not to be heard indoors.”McKee said one of his biggest fears is not that people won’t hear the sirens or get the alerts but the number of people that do receive the warnings and, instead of seeking cover, remain outside to watch the storm, despite the danger, “Debris flies. We’ll have fatalities.”McKee added, “Get to the basement.”

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