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Franklin County pursues federal hazard-mitigation grant to modernize storm-siren activation
Summary
The commission authorized staff to pursue a federal hazard-mitigation grant and proceed with paperwork to upgrade the county's storm-siren activation system, a project county emergency staff said would move sirens from one-way VHF activation to a two-way, LTE-based system that can report status and be silently tested.
Franklin County commissioners voted Sept. 17 to move forward with a federal hazard-mitigation grant application and the administrative work needed to upgrade the county's storm-siren activation system, a project officials said would allow the county to detect siren failures before severe weather events.
Emergency management coordinator Tom (last name not specified) told commissioners the current system uses one-way VHF signals and can leave the county unaware when a siren stops working. "We've had sirens that have not gone off for months at a time before somebody said, you know, that Monday test, I haven't heard that siren in about a month," he said. Upgrading to a two-way activation system would let staff run "silent tests" and see whether a siren is operational without issuing the public alert, Tom said.
Why it matters: Commissioners were told the two-way system would let the county confirm siren status in real time and plan backups if a…
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