Canfield resident urges county to review weekly tornado-siren tests that disturb nearby homes

Stephanie Clark, a Canfield resident, told the Mahoning County Commissioners on May 8 that weekly Saturday tornado-siren testing from a pole-mounted siren near her home disrupts her family and “directly impacts my disability.” Clark, who identified her address as 6625 Summit Drive, asked whether weekly testing is necessary and whether the siren could be silenced during tests while preserving public safety.

Clark said she called the commissioners’ office after raising the issue at an earlier meeting and described the follow-up as “dismissive,” adding that during a phone conversation she was told “the siren had been there forever.” She told commissioners the neighborhood was farmland when the siren was installed but is now developed with homes nearby and that neighbors dislike the weekly testing.

A county staff member replied during public comment that the system cannot be silenced for tests and explained the tests must be audible so residents know what the siren sounds like in case of an actual emergency: “No. Because that's how it works when you know you can hear it. And I know it's annoying to you.” The staff member and the commissioners said they would check on the matter and follow up with Clark.

Clark described the testing practice in practical terms: tests occur on Saturdays at 12:00 p.m. and last about one minute, during which she said her household must “stop what we're doing, we have to come inside, we have to go to the basement and wait for this one minute every Saturday.” She said a neighbor two doors down also described the siren as “terrible.”

The discussion at the meeting was in the public-comment portion of the May 8 session; no formal vote was taken. Commissioners and staff characterized the sirens as safety devices and said weekly tests are intended to ensure the public will recognize the sound in an actual emergency. County staff told Clark they would “check into it” and get back to her.

Clarifying details discussed at the meeting included that the tests occur weekly on Saturdays at noon, each test lasts about one minute, and the siren in question is mounted on a telephone pole near the neighborhood close to the Dunkin' Donuts on Route 224. The transcript did not specify whether the siren is owned or maintained by Mahoning County or another agency, and no change to testing frequency or technology was approved at the meeting.