Wichita Falls Fire Chief outlines new outdoor warning siren activation policy
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Sign Up Free
Summary
Fire Chief Melton told council the city will sound all 53 sirens for any tornado warning covering all or part of Wichita Falls and for NWS severe thunderstorm warnings with a destructive-wind tag of 80 mph or greater; operational details and public signup for Code Red were emphasized.
Wichita Falls Fire Chief Melton presented a revised outdoor warning siren activation policy and operational guidance to the City Council following a recent tornado-warning event and a stakeholder review.
Chief Melton said the principal change is to sound the city's sirens when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning covering all or part of Wichita Falls. Previously, activation criteria were more limited and required confirmation that left staff deciding at the final moment whether to activate. The revised criteria also call for activation when a severe thunderstorm warning includes a destructive-wind tag of 80 miles per hour or greater or when a trained storm spotter observes a funnel cloud forming in or approaching city limits.
"If there's a tornado warning for all or part of the city, we're gonna sound the sirens," Chief Melton said, framing the change as a move to earlier and clearer public alerting.
Operational details provided: all 53 sirens will sound during a catastrophic activation, using a pattern of 3 minutes on, 5 minutes off, repeated until the warning expires to preserve battery/solar charge for potential subsequent activations. Monthly testing occurs the first Monday of each month at 12 p.m., weather permitting. Chief Melton urged residents not to rely solely on sirens and to register for Code Red — the city's geo-targeted notification system — and to use multiple alerting channels (weather radio, apps, TV and social media).
Council members asked about typical warning length (staff used about 30 minutes as a planning benchmark) and who to contact if a siren does not sound; staff said residents can report issues via Access Wichita Falls or by contacting the fire department or John Henderson (county emergency manager). The fire department provided a contact number (761-7901) for issues.
Chief Melton said that the change resulted from a multi-stakeholder process including meteorologists, emergency managers and storm spotters and was intended to give clearer guidance for both the public and staff who operate the system.