St. Louis County False Activation

[uncommonsense]

Hey all. There was definitely a false activation of the sirens in [parts of] St. Louis County today around 11am. The sirens are usually tested on the first Monday. With nothing on the radar, there was no reason for it. Does anyone have any idea why this occurred? St. Louis newsmedia is not reporting anything, and I know sometimes you all have information not seen elsewhere/not easily found/that I missed . Thanks a bunch!

[Robert Gift]

Do they do the tests at 11 a.m. ?
If automatic, maybe their days calander was off.

[FedTB]

No, it was definately a mistake. I work as a firefighter-paramedic in St. Louis County and was at a hospital typing out an ambulance report on our laptop after a call and called our dispatcher for times. She asked me what the weather was like (the dispatch center has no windows) and I told her it was a little overcast but not raining. She said she was receiveing several phone calls from citizens asking why the sirens were going off. I told her that the sirens weren't going off where we were at (southern St. Louis County), but that maybe there was a Tornado Warning in an ajacent county, as it is St. Louis County EMA's policy is to activate the sirens in St. Louis County, if that was the case.

I told my partner about it and he even remarked that it wasn't the first Monday of the month. Although, the ironic thing is is that it was 11 o'clock when the sirens were going off in parts of the county, and 11 o'clock is test time on the first Monday of the month.

A few minutes later dispatch set off the all-call and alerted everyone that the siren activation was a mistake.

This is the third time in the past few months that there have been accidental activations in various parts of St. Louis County's siren system. Don't know what's going on but the public will soon grow weary if this keeps happening.

[uncommonsense]

Thanks a bunch for your help, FedTB. I was at work and I had people calling and coming to me asking what was going on...I told them the radar was clear and there were no warnings anywhere. It definitely is making me weary though. I remember reading about all the false activations on the news while I was away at college, not to mention I remember a 7am false activation sometime last year and an instance where the majority of the system failed during a tornado warning (that, too, being last year I believe).

So, anyway, I know my interest in sirens removes me from John Q. Public, but no less, I think the problem is a bit out of hand.

[kswx29]

Whats the All-Clear signal on the sirens?

[Robert Gift]

Whats the All-Clear signal on the sirens?

I am surprised anyone would sound an "all clear" nowadays.

[Gil]

Whats the All-Clear signal on the sirens?

I am surprised anyone would sound an "all clear" nowadays.

Yes, I dont think many, if not all, do sound an All-Clear.

[Justin]

Whats the All-Clear signal on the sirens?

The 'all clear' signal is just alert or a steady tone for three minutes (according to UK authories back in the WWII times).

I know of one or two places specifically noting 'all clear' as one of their signals, but I can't recall who.

[kswx29]

Whats the All-Clear signal on the sirens?

The 'all clear' signal is just alert or a steady tone for three minutes (according to UK authories back in the WWII times).

I know of one or two places specifically noting 'all clear' as one of their signals, but I can't recall who.

I am refearing to the St.Louis system...he said
"A few minutes later dispatch set off the all-call and alerted everyone that the siren activation was a mistake."

[Adam Pollak]

"All-call" is referring to alerting every station at the same time with a message. St. Louis County does not use an all-clear signal.