Durant, MS tornado sirens never went off?

[Chris Heater]

Just caught wind of this from one of our team members. The same tornado that struck Yazoo City, MS also stuck the edge of Durant soon after. Bad news is...there was little warning for most of the town. Police and fire department were forced to go door to door and with bullhorns to warn people of the impending tornado. The siren is over 40 years old and broke over 6 months before the tornado struck. Watch the news story below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq4JnNfiWgY

I'm sure you've heard this story before...but this one strikes close to me. We drove through the town right as the tornado was coming into town. And soon after, nearly driving in it. After surveying the damage we met some very nice people and law enforcement and showed them our video. I never realized until recently they had very little warning!

My question...since the federal government won't do anything about it can I get enough interest to start a fundraiser? If I do get enough interest I WANT to start one. As I said...I met some very nice people out there and I would hate to see this town at some point later in the year wind up not so lucky, when we could have done something about it. Just a thought...

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

Hi Chris...I'd say your heart is in the right place, but, unfortunately, this is something that's very common all across the country. Many of the warning sirens are left over from the civil defense days. There are also stories, every year in fact, of updated warning sirens failing when it's important.

For the cost of updating/upgrading a warning siren system in a small community, I'd suggest efforts be focused on NOAA weather radios for their households. I know many local efforts are focused on making weather radios available at a discounted price at local businesses.

Just some thoughts from the cheap seats...

 

[Penny Lehner]

There are grants available thru FEMA for sirens. I'm not sure the percentage anymore but I do know 4-5 years ago a grant would cover 75% of the cost of a siren. The grants can be applied for through their state hazard mitigation office. Here is a link to the website that lists the states contact info.

http://www.fema.gov/about/contact/shmo.shtm#m

Mississippi's info is as follows:

Mississippi

Mr. Bob Boteler
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
P.O. Box 5644
Pearl, MS 39288-5644
Phone: (601) 933-6606
Fax: (601) 965-6215
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Page: www.msema.org

I thank you for trying to help out this town. If you are in contact with any of the local officials, tell them grants are available. Sirens are expensive so even with a grant, they will have to raise funds. And I will be more than happy to help with the cause.

 

[Chris Heater]

Thanks everyone. Just an idea for now but quite serious about it. At Penny, Durant tried for a grant but was rejected

 

[rdale]

The emergency manager in almost every jursidiction in the country is able to tap into Homeland Security money (called the HSGP or SHSP grant) to purchase things like weather radios, sirens, First2Warn, you name it with a 0% match. It's not a grant they have to apply for, it's a grant that the government already gave the state.

And unless you're talking about an outdoor facility - it's usually cheaper and more effective to buy a lot of weather radios.

 

[Mike Johnston]

The emergency manager in almost every jursidiction in the country is able to tap into Homeland Security money (called the HSGP or SHSP grant) to purchase things like weather radios, sirens, First2Warn, you name it with a 0% match. It's not a grant they have to apply for, it's a grant that the government already gave the state.

And unless you're talking about an outdoor facility - it's usually cheaper and more effective to buy a lot of weather radios.

Interesting information. There must be many emergency managers in jurisdictions on the east coast that either aren't aware of this program, or don't want to bother with it, or just don't see the benefit. As anyone who lives in a population center on the east coast knows, there is just no such thing as outdoor warning sirens.

Re: weather radios, I agree in theory the benefit/cost is probably better, but to be effective, it seems like you have to have a viable plan of distribution. Distribution to the public involves some kind of publicity/awareness program; I don't know whether the federal money covers such "soft costs" as this, but that would be important.

At any rate, I plan to contact the emergency management here in Charleston County and at least raise this issue - just in case they aren't even aware.

 

[Chris Heater]

The emergency manager in almost every jursidiction in the country is able to tap into Homeland Security money (called the HSGP or SHSP grant) to purchase things like weather radios, sirens, First2Warn, you name it with a 0% match. It's not a grant they have to apply for, it's a grant that the government already gave the state.

And unless you're talking about an outdoor facility - it's usually cheaper and more effective to buy a lot of weather radios.

I'll be getting a call back sometime today from the mayor. I'll bring that up and see if they tried that. Thanks for the tips everyone. I have no idea how much a siren costs...but my guess it, their not cheap ($20K or higher?). Weather radios may be the best way to go

 

[rdale]

About $20,000 for a siren, I'm not sure how much the controller / system side costs.

As a side note - some states don't let their locals spend any of the grant money. The way it works for our area (10 county region) is that the region gets half of the money, and then the counties break up the other half based on population. So it's not out of the question that your county doesn't get the money - but I'd be surprised.