Teton County emergency manager urges layered alerting, more sirens and clearer evacuation authority

Teton County’s emergency management coordinator told commissioners on Sept. 8 that the county should prioritize layered alerting systems, add outdoor warning sirens in four locations and clarify legal authority for protective actions and evacuations after reviewing national lessons from a July flood in Texas that killed more than 100 people.

“Sirens are important, but they’re not the only thing,” Rich Oakes said in a Sept. 8 briefing that noted delays in alerts and failures to evacuate vulnerable populations in the Texas incident. Oakes told the board Teton County maintains multiple notification platforms — Everbridge, NOAA weather radio, wireless emergency alerts and a seven‑siren outdoor network — but that siren coverage has gaps and the county has identified a need for four more sirens in Alta, Grand Targhee, central Jackson and east Jackson.

Why it matters: commissioners were told that layered alerts raise the likelihood residents will respond and that the county’s limited staff capacity for sending mass alerts, unclear state evacuation authority and inconsistent special‑event planning are potential failure points during a major incident.

Oakes described local capabilities and gaps: the county’s sirens cover population centers but not the entire county; each siren’s effective audible range varies with weather and terrain; the county’s outdoor siren hardware was upgraded to two‑way communications in the past year; and tests of systems are performed monthly and twice‑yearly for audible tests. He said the county has “a need that’s been identified for several years, of four additional outdoor warning sirens.”

On costs and procurement, Oakes said the county should expect roughly $80,000 per siren, including installation and necessary utility work, and that doing multiple installations together is typically cheaper than single, ad hoc purchases. He told the board the county is planning an RFP for annual siren maintenance and installation services to reduce the high cost of one‑off repairs and installations.

Oakes also raised legal and procedural questions about evacuations and protective actions in Wyoming, telling commissioners that Wyoming lacks a clear statutory framework for issuing large‑scale evacuations and that “the governor really is the only one that has the authority to really evacuate anybody, in Wyoming,” a point he said required more legal review with the county attorney and the state.

Commissioners and staff discussed other recommendations Oakes presented: clearer and enforceable special‑event plan review standards, more outreach to encourage public sign‑up for Everbridge, coordination with school district messaging and media‑relations preparation for events that attract outside or national attention. Jody Pond, county administrator, said a staff report will come to the board on staffing in the Emergency Operations Center that would create a manager and an exempt coordinator as a backup to improve 24/7 coverage.

Pond told commissioners, “You will see a staff report for next week related to staffing at the EOC,” and said the county plans to change the emergency coordinator title to manager and propose an exempt coordinator position as second‑in‑command; two additional specialist positions would be budgeted but unfilled pending future funding.

The board expressed support for prioritizing the recommendations. Commissioner Probst offered to help pursue legislative clarification of protective‑action authority. Commissioner Patricia Carlman said she believed commissioners generally supported moving the recommendations forward and suggested staff prioritize the items and return with discrete steps and funding options.

Ending: County staff said they will return with a prioritized implementation plan, a staff report on EOC staffing next week and options for funding or phasing additional sirens and maintenance contracts.