Tallmadgeexpress.com - Phone calls may warn of tornados

by Amanda Harnocz

Reporter

Tallmadge -- In addition to the six tornado sirens installed around Tallmadge, the city may begin using a new electronic phone system to warn residents about serious weather conditions.

According to Mayor Christopher Grimm, the tornado sirens the city has right now aren't reliable.

"The sirens have been problematic for years," he said.

Three out of the six sirens are working, according to Tallmadge Fire Chief Dennis Crossen.

"Some of the sirens are so old we can't even order parts for them anymore," he said.

The plan is to keep the sirens that currently work, but to eliminate the older, non-functioning sirens, Crossen said.

Director of Public Service Dave Kline said the sirens are hard to maintain because of their susceptibility to being struck by lightning.

The city will attempt to salvage as much of the older sirens as possible to maintain the working sirens, Kline said. "We're going to try and fix as many as possible."

It costs approximately $35 an hour to service the sirens and then the cost of parts is added, said Crossen.

As of April 16, there are no plans to buy additional sirens until a decision on the WEN system is determined, Kline said.

The plan is to keep the sirens at large public places like Maca Pool, the soccer fields and the high school, Grimm said.

Grimm and Kline suggested the city start using the Wireless Emergency Network System to notify the public about possibly harmful weather.

The WENS would cost approximately $2,000 a year, said Kline.

"It's more money [than to maintain the sirens] this way, but it's a better system. You have to look at the value for what you are spending," he said.

The Tallmadge School District currently uses a similar WEN system to notify students' homes about emergencies and snow days. More recently, the system was used by the district to notify parents of the beef recall.

If the city goes with the new system, residents may enter up to three mobile phone numbers into the city Web site to be notified by text message of such weather events, Kline said.

The system, which is tied into the Summit County weather forecast, can send out 25,000 pages in one minute, according to Kline.

The system will not call home phones, but along with sending text messages, e-mails can be sent as well.

Councilmember John Rensel said he was skeptical that using a text messaging system would be beneficial for the city because he feels the majority of the residents do not have mobile devices or won't be able to hear the select sirens.

"Even now with the five sirens, residents may not even hear it," Kline said.

The end result should be a combination of both the sirens and the WEN system, he said. "We just want to notify as many people as we possibly can."

Kline will update City Council about the new system during its April 21 meeting.

E-mail: aharnocz@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3911