Warning sirens effective

[bellyjae]

"If you are outdoors, you are or should be aware of the weather.
The only time a siren is useful is if you are inside and not aware of the weather outside."


I disagree. Sirens are not meant to be heard indoors. If you can hear them inside, awesome! But that is not their intention. They are to warn people outdoors. Although I can hear the sirens in my house, there was a night I slept with my windows open and the sirens went off, and i did not wake. (My case I need to buy a weather radio.) It can be a sunny day and a storm can pop up out of nowhere. Having the mixed system in place to warn the public will aid in saving lives. Not everyone takes those precautionary measures seriously, but at least all has been done to warn the public of threatening weather.

[Robert Gift]

"If you are outdoors, you are or should be aware of the weather.
The only time a siren is useful is if you are inside and not aware of the weather outside.
I disagree. Sirens are not meant to be heard indoors. If you can hear them inside, awesome! But that is not their intention. They are to warn people outdoors. Although I can hear the sirens in my house, there was a night I slept with my windows open and the sirens went off, and i did not wake. (My case I need to buy a weather radio.) It can be a sunny day and a storm can pop up out of nowhere. Having the mixed system in place to warn the public will aid in saving lives. Not everyone takes those precautionary measures seriously, but at least all has been done to warn the public of threatening weather.

And that is the problem.
Often one cannot hear them indoors.

Outdoors you need only look up "Keep an Eye on the Sky"
and they are not needed outdoors, either.

[Federal Signal fan]

Thus, Robert brought up a good point.

These system must be used in unison for a complete and accurate warning. Outside, sirens have the coverage, indoors, other systems of 911 systems, weather radio, and television cover that. If one's township relys too heavily on one system, disaster is impending. If one's township has several systems with excellent connections, then disaster is only of a possibility.

The one thing we must also consider, these warnings must be ahead of time and quickly accurate. Twisters can move at 25-75 miles per hour...

Robert,
I have some disagreement in your statement. "Outdoors you need to look up 'Keep an Eye on the Sky' and they are not needed outdoors, either."

True in some cases, but urban and populated areas have structures and other obstacles in their eyesight path. You can't always see a tornado, not until it's too late. It's worthless if one can't even notice the impeding signs of a forming tornado or tornadic conditions. Though everyone should take the time to educate themselves on the signs of tornadic activity, a good part of them don't... Therefore, sirens still have a critical purpose in warning systems.

Joshua

[Mr.Thunderbolt]

I'll throw in my $0.02.

First, whoever says that sirens are ment to be heard indoors, your just stupid. I agree with BellyJae, hearing them indoors is just a plus.

Second, yes, a system of sirens, reverse 911, weather radios, etc, is also a really good way to alert people. But, here's where I see the flaw.

Weather Radios, TV's, Radios, etc. all need one thing: power.
As soon as that is cut, you lose two of your options right there. Yes, weather radios can run on batteries, but, some times, that's not enough.

Now, weather radios( see above) and text messeages don't need house electricty to run, but they also need another crucial thing: radio waves.
If, by some means, then there is no way that they can operate properly.

Now that leves sirens. If all of the above fails, then here is your last chance. Now, of course, you have the sirens that will fail as soon as the power is gone. But then there are the ones that have battery back-up. Sure they'll run of the batteries, but for how long? If there is no power, those batteries will eventually run out of jucie.

All I'm saying is that each thing has it's flaw, there's no way to get around those. They'll work for now, but a failure could happen at any time.

[r4tbolts]

Anyone here who grew up in a city with T-bolts knows in many parts of town those t-bolts could be heard inside many a house. Crappy sirens and poor placement is the cause why they can' be heard inside. today

This whole subject with the "not ment to be heard inside" seemed to start when the T-bolts, Hurricanes and Allertors and some of the older big power sirens were getting replaced by 2001's and others that did not carry the sound like the old ones. When citizens started to complain they couldn't hear the new sirens the standard reply became from the city and the vendors they're not supposed to be used to alert you indoors. Funny the old ones sure did though.

Coldwar era t-bolts and lets not for get the Victory Siren were designed and used to wake an entire city out of a slumbering sleep to take cover for missile attack. It's unfortunate that the new generation sirens can't stand up to that measure.

[bellyjae]

That being said, my area is covered by tbolts and P-10's. I slept with my window open, they sounded, and I still slept right through it. I guess i can be a heavy sleeper. Narf.

[Alasiren1977]

Here is an article that was in a local Tennessee about the debate over sirens in Tennesse. It is funny at the end of the article that they point out the Federal Gov. has recorded Tennessee with the most tornado related deaths than an other state. Hmm shouldnt that be a wake up call.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090 ... /904230345

[carexpertandy]

That being said, my area is covered by tbolts and P-10's. I slept with my window open, they sounded, and I still slept right through it. I guess i can be a heavy sleeper. Narf.

Is that when they went off last year on the 1st Wednesday in February at 1:00am? I never heard them, but surprisingly, they were still tested that day.

[Whelen Rules]

I live about a mile from a VortexR-4 here in Tullahoma and when my window is open I can hear it loudly in the house during the day or night. Many residents here in town can hear the sirens in there homes and take precautions. On a clear test day I can hear at least 5 or 6 of the sirens wind-up/down outside.

A good example of why I believe the sirens are still well needed is during a tornado warning in March I was in downtown after chasing the storms I figured they were over but a supercell had formed just southwest of the city prompting a tornado warning. I instantly heard the sirens start up and people in downtown shopping and walking to the bars and what not on the square heard them as well and sought shelter in the nearest buildings. Downtown Tullahoma is surrounded by three audible sirens all of which are located slightly over a mile but still with-in the 6,400 ft Vortex 70dB radius.

During the tornado warnings a few weeks ago (when Murfreesboro got hit) we had a big event at the Johnson Ln park complex here in town where one of the cities sirens is located when the warnings came out for town everybody at the park and other places in town had about 15 minutes advance warning and went home or took shelter there.

Currently I am working to get 3 to 4 sirens in Manchester a town to our northeast that would cover the whole town.

Other sirens in our area for those who live in Middle Tennessee include all 9 of our Whelen sirens in Tullahoma, Shelbyville has 2 sirens, and McMinnville has 6 federal signal sirens.

[bellyjae]

Is that when they went off last year on the 1st Wednesday in February at 1:00am? I never heard them, but surprisingly, they were still tested that day.

Yep.