Emergency Notification System, Not Sirens, Alert Residents of Train Derailment, Fire

By: Wayne Hanson on June 25, 2009

Most Popular

Most Commented

Social Media Centers - Right or Wrong for Emergency Managers?

"Social media can provide an EOC with huge quantities of data about an unfolding event. They keys ar"
Rebuilding in Danger Zones

"You're welcome, Eric. It's hard to compare our country to others. People have lived in floodplains"
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate Shares 3 Lessons from 2011

"I know the Administrator is sharing his comments with Congress but clearly, they aren't getting it. "
America’s Crumbling Infrastructure Will Challenge Emergency Managers For Decades

"In my neck of the woods, mother nature has taken out the fiber carrying land and cell phone too ofte"
2011's Weather Is a Precursor of Things to Come, says NOAA Assistant Administrator

"Excellent article. Living in central Arkansas as a NWS severe storm Skywarn spotter, I'm seeing the "

When a train carrying tank cars of ethanol derailed Friday and caught fire in Winnebago County, Ill., officials decided to use the county's emergency notification system to warn residents rather than newly installed sirens. The reason, according to an article in the Rockford Register-Star, was to avoid confusion and to limit the warning to a smaller area than the sirens' three-mile radius.

If residents thought the siren was for a tornado, for example, they might hole up in their basements, rather than vacating the area. The sirens have three warning messages: A continuous tone means severe weather or tornado. A six-second rise and fall is the signal for a terrorist attack, and the evacuation tone rises for 16 seconds and falls for 8 seconds.

You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Emergency-Notification-System-Not.html

Comments

Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.