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Officials: generator damage left Richardson County's outdoor warning sirens offline during May 18 storm
Summary
EMA Director Brian Kirkendall told commissioners that a courthouse generator was not operating during the May 18 storm, the siren system ran on battery backup that later failed, and repair crews believe lightning damaged the generator during a May 16'17 storm; repairs are underway and a small backup generator was discussed.
Richardson County emergency management officials told the Board of Commissioners on May 20 that outdoor warning sirens did not sound correctly during the severe storm on May 18 because the courthouse generator that normally powers the siren control system was not operating.
EMA Director Brian Kirkendall explained to the board and to a reporter from the Falls City Journal that the siren control system switched to a battery backup when the generator failed; that battery backup later quit and the subsequent warnings did not sound. Repair crews who went to assess the generator reported that lightning damage likely occurred during an earlier storm on May 16'17. Kirkendall said repairs were underway and the board discussed obtaining a small backup generator that would serve as a back-up to the existing back-up to run the computer system that signals the outdoor warning sirens.
The county also reviewed the storm response more broadly; Commissioners noted they had received messages from residents about the sirens. The account given to the board indicates the failure was a technical problem with the generator and battery backup rather than a decision not to sound alerts. County officials said repairs are being made and discussed redundancies to reduce the risk of future outages.
Why it matters: Outdoor warning sirens are a key public-safety notification for severe weather events. County officials' explanation and their plan to add redundancy are relevant to residents who rely on the system during storms.
Next steps: Repairs to the courthouse generator are in progress and the board discussed acquiring a small backup generator to serve as an additional redundancy for the siren-control system.
