Elgen expands siren activations to high-wind storms; city rolls out bilingual alerts campaign

Chief Rob Sagen told the City Council on June 24 that Elgen will broaden outdoor warning-siren activations beyond tornadoes to include National Weather Service classifications for "considerable" and "destructive" severe thunderstorms, a change aimed at protecting people who are outdoors during very high-wind events. "Our job as the appointed officials, your job as the elected officials, is to help keep the community safe," Sagen said, arguing the sirens are meant to reach the most vulnerable people outside.

The change follows multiple activations during a string of severe-weather events that prompted council members and staff to take shelter in the basement early in the meeting. Sagen said the city evaluated neighboring communities and the capabilities of Elgen’s own system and concluded that zoning the siren network and activating for high-wind severe thunderstorm warnings will better notify people in imminent danger. He described the National Weather Service thresholds the city will use and noted that repeated activations can happen when a warning polygon shifts: "Repeated activations may happen if warnings are reissued," he said, explaining a new warning box can move across the city and re-trigger sirens in areas still under threat.

Communications Manager Josie Pete Crowy outlined a bilingual outreach campaign to explain the new practice and to reduce confusion. Crowy said officials will push a simple, repeatable message: sirens mean those outdoors should seek shelter and then get more information, and residents should sign up for the city’s emergency alerts at elgenil.gov/alerts. The campaign will use social media, short and long video formats, print inserts (English and Spanish), targeted outreach to schools, senior centers and daycares, and distribution of bilingual handouts at public events.

Officials considered but rejected implementing separate tones for different hazards, citing research and the practical difficulty of ensuring every resident and visitor understands a multi-tone system. Sagen said the two-tone approach is "fraught with danger" because new residents and visitors will not reliably know the meaning of different tones.

Council members asked operational questions about how alerts would be delivered. The city noted the emergency-alert system can push manual notifications to thousands of people (one division chief sent an alert to more than 20,000 people during the meeting) and that push notifications through the city app are being reserved for non-emergency, resident-specific items. The police department retains the ability to send localized geofenced alerts for incidents in a confined area.

Council Member Paul suggested a small wording change for the public materials to avoid implying that sirens are useful "only" for people outdoors; staff agreed to adjust language to make clear that indoor residents also should take shelter and check other information sources. The chief emphasized that the core call to action remains the same: seek shelter immediately and then find more information.

Next steps: the city will begin the public communications rollout immediately, with bilingual print and digital materials, targeted outreach to vulnerable populations, continued social-media messaging, and promotion of the sign-up form at elgenil.gov/alerts for more detailed push alerts.