I assumed that the community sirens were somehow automatically triggered (networked) if it fell inside of a tornado warning cone. But it makes sense they are all manually operated so long as they are all properly manned during severe weather events. I seem to recall a recent Woodward event where there may have been a power outage or phone outage or something and the siren was inoperable when it was really needed?
It's not done 'automatically', the OEM triggers them when the threat is imminent. However, they are tied together through a radio/telephone/cell network - in my town they use phone with a radio backup. All the OEM does is push a button and they go off. The problem is with the current system they go off county-wide, and complacency is becoming an issue. Over the past couple years they have started upgrading them to be "addressable", so they can trigger them by area using software very similar to what NWS uses to post the warnings.
And it's funny you mention the sirens being inoperable when they were needed, because we had an extraordinary display of fail here last year.. There was a round of TOR warned storms that were marching straight toward Russell - as it was getting dark no less.. The cells were approximately 20-30 miles apart, moving about 30mph.. The sirens went off for the first one, but then the power went out, it stayed out for the better part of 3 hours (side note: we get our power from Hays, and those lines were knocked out - but we also have a local power plant that is supposed to go online in that situation, and it failed). Several other TORs were issued while the power was out, and once cell did produce an EF-1 that hit the south end of town and put two people in the hospital. There was one Sentry siren in town (happens to be right behind my house) which has a battery backup - and it failed to activate. So basically if you didn't have a weather radio with batteries or a way to watch TV, you were totally oblivious to the continuing threat.
Needless to say, the next city council meeting was quite interesting and colorful. There are now three new Sentry sirens in town.. But to beat the dead horse, one should not be relying on sirens. Sirens are outdoor warning devices, not designed to alert you indoors or wake you up. You need a weather radio for that.
