🚀 go-pugleaf

>
>Date:    Tue, 23 Apr 1996 07:04:02 +0100
>From:    Undetermined origin c/o LISTSERV administrator
>         <owner-LISTSERV@POSTOFFICE.CSO.UIUC.EDU>
>Subject: Blowing the Sirens
>
>Your county government must have been napping on that one...
>
>The FIRST thing the NWS office does is alert the NAWAS system for weather
>warnings, then they type in the warning into AFOS...then it goes out via
>NOAA radio......
>

NAWAS _DOES NOT_ cover everything.  In small rural counties, or in counties
where the EOC is not staffed 24 hours a day, there is no NAWAS.
Here in Fulton County, we have no NAWAS: the State Police are the NAWAS
communication point for most of the rural counties in Illinois.  Only
the big counties with a large tax base can afford to maintain the cost
of NAWAS and the cost of 24-hour-a-day staffing.

>The NAtional WArning System has been in place since the 1950's and is
>basically one giant conference call telephone....if your EOC wasn't
>paying attention then they should take the blame

If the EOC missed the warning from the NWS, then, yes, they should take the
blame.  If they don't have NAWAS, for whatever reason, then are they to
blame for not having NAWAS?  I don't think so.  We receive emergency
notifications through our county dispatch point at the Sheriff's Office,
when our EOC is not open.  It works well for us.  No, the Sheriff's Office
does NOT have NAWAS.

>                                                  ....and the sirens belong
>to the county or municipality....NWS does not control them

Correct.  See the rest of this message (below) for more discussion.

>
>de Kevin Heyboer KD4UYR
>Pinellas County FL  Skywarn Coordinator
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Tue, 23 Apr 1996 21:56:29 GMT
>From:    Bill Lefler <wo0e@SKY.NET>
>Subject: Re: Sirens: Whose responsibility?
>
>Peter Laws (plaws@BABO.UARK.EDU) wrote:
>: Help me out here.  The NWS issues a tornado for a given area, a county,
>: say.  This I understand.  Once the warning is issued, whose responsibility
>: then is it to blow the sirens?  My understanding is that it's the County
>: OES and/or municipal agency's responsibility.  Is the municipality/county
>: required to wait for a phone call from the NWS?
>:
>:
>: So.  Whose responsibility is it to blow the siren?  Is the NWS being made
>: a scapegoat?
>:
>My $0.02 worth (and a bargin at that!!!:-)
>        As I understand it, the NWS is responsible for issuing the
>Warning. However, the local municipality/County Emergency Management is
>who blows the sirens. Here in Kansas City KS, The Emergency Manager will
>blow the siren immediately upon a report of a funnel cloud, or a wall
>cloud with sufficient rotation, when the report is from a known, reliable
>spotter. It is the responsiblity of the OEM for all siren activity,
>including testing and maintenance, as well as blowing them "For Real".

Well said!

>        I believe most Emergency managers will wait until the NWS issues
>the "Official" warning to avoid the legal reprecussions that assuming the
>lead may expose one to. By waiting until the NWS issues the warning, they
>have someone to blame if it is too late. This is my *opinion*, nothing
>more. As I stated, in Wyandotte County Kansas, we will blow the siren
>*first*, then notify the NWS of the report (or possibly at the same
>time).
>        As stated, this is all my opinion. If it is misguided, incorrect,
>off target, arbitrary, and obtuse then it certainly should be
>recognizable as mine! :-)
>BCNU Lef (Bill Lefler/WO0E Kansas City/Wyandotte County Kansas)
>wo0e@sky.net
>

I am the Deputy Director of our County's emergency management agency, which
we call the Emergency Services and Disaster Agency.

I think we hashed this out about two years ago on WX-TALK, but it is
worth repeating periodically.

The local emergency management agency is responsible for warning the
people in its jurisdiction.  That includes blowing sirens, if it has
sirens under its control (Fulton County has no sirens under its direct
control, but local municipalities do).

The National Weather Service does not have the ultimate responsibility for
warning -- the local emergency management agency does.  In practice, this
means that sirens will be blown when the NWS issues a tornado warning, but
this does not abrogate the local EMA's responsibility to blow sirens without
an NWS warning when, in the view of the local EMA officials, the situation
warrants it.  The issue is not sirens -- it is warning the public.  That
is the local EMA's responsibility, because it is the local EMA that is
defined by statute as the warning authority within the jurisdiction it
serves.  While most EMAs work in partnership with the NWS and will
respond to NWS warnings, the duty and responsibility to warn are local.

For the record, we have only issued one tornado warning -- clearly stating
that "The Fulton County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency has issued
a tornado warning . . . " -- in the past 9 years.  That was when we felt
the conditions warranted it, based on in-county spotter reports to our
agency.  This was after multiple requests to our local NWS office to issue
a warning, and we kept being told the request was being evaluated.  We
felt justified in issuing a warning, and 15 minutes later the NWS did
actually issue a warning.  Yes, we informed the NWS we were issuing a warning
on our own.  Later, we had a meeting with the NWS and there hasn't been
a problem since.

The point I am trying to make here is that we have the responsibility and
the authority, as an emergency management agency, to warn our populace when
a threat exists -- and we have the duty to warn when necessary.

Flames, kudos, and further discussion welcome.

                                     -- Phil Fleming
                                        Deputy Director



--
      Fulton County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency
 Rural Route 2, 435 N. Avenue F, Canton, Illinois 61520   (309) 647-7701
   Fax: (309) 647-1226   E-mail address: fcesda@heartland.bradley.edu
       "Support Your Local Emergency Services Management Agency!"