Weather Sirens and You!

The City of West Des Moines now has 15 weather sirens strategically located throughout the City. Historically, in order to make sure the sirens are activated and working properly, our personnel had to be sent to the siren to manually observe its operation. With fifteen sirens, that's obviously not the most efficient method of testing.

Our Emergency Management Coordinator, Fire Chief Don Cox, and Fire Lieutenant Mike Clark recently researched and implemented an improved system to monitor and record weather siren activation. At the end of January a new computer-controlled monitoring system was installed that provides two-way radio communication between the sirens and one of our fire stations. The software package provides real-time data on when a siren activated, how long it activated and if it performed properly. This improved weather siren system should enhance the safety of our community by ensuring the sirens are ready when we need them.

Our Fire Department would like me to remind you that these warning sirens are designed to alert you when you are outside; they are not designed to alert every citizen inside a building. It's important that people who spend most of their day inside a building invest in a weather radio to ensure they get proper alert warnings during severe weather.