Crashes

WATCH: Why Tornado Sirens Will Never Come Back to San Angelo

By Matt Trammell, May 23, 2019
 

SAN ANGELO, TX -- Last week San Angelo was hit by one of the worst storms it has seen in years in the middle of the darkness in the wee-early morning. When storms roll in the dark, the most important thing to keep people safe is for them to be notified. 

After Last Saturday's storm many people felt that the emergency sirens that had been decommissioned a few months ago would've helped them be more prepared. A petition was even made to try and get them back working. 

Nineteen-year Fire Chief Brian Dunn and Chief of Operations Todd Sanford explained why the sirens aren't coming back. There are many reasons why the old sirens are a thing of the past, they said. Watch the video here: 

 

 

The biggest problem with the sirens is the cost and constant maintenance of them. The sirens are outside through every storm and since they have been here since the 1950's they are extremely outdated. "Every month we would test them and every time multiple sirens were broken." said Chief Dunn "It became harder to find parts." 

Another problem is that even if the sirens were going off many couldn't hear them anyway. "One of the biggest misconceptions is that the siren system will be a fix all for everything," said Chief Dunn. "The biggest problem is people cannot hear them when they are inside their house." He continued. He relayed a personal experience where the sirens were being tested on 20th and Chadbourne St. While the siren went off, Dunn went four blocks down on a sunny day and could not hear anything. 

The fix to all of these problems was the new iPAWS system. The emergency alerts are similar to Amber alerts received on cell phones. When activated by the SAFD, alerts will be sent to every cell phone and landline within the area designated – whether a neighborhood or the entire county. Calls to land lines will continue until answered, offering detailed information about the threat and instructions. 

"You can issue the alerts and what is happening goes across your screen." said Chief Dunn. "If it is a tornado warning it will tell you its a tornado, to take cover and how long the storm will last."

The alerts are based on what the National Weather Service reports. When the storm enters Tom Green County the fire department will issue out alerts, but not to everyone in the county. The alerts are only sent out to people in the "danger zone." The reason being if you live in north San Angelo you don't need to be worried about a tornado aiming for Wall. If that tornado continues to head your direction an alert will be sent to you. 

Chief Sanford runs the iPaws system. Every time a storm is approaching Tom Green County Sanford is at his desk, making calls, and sending out alerts to where they need to go. "Every time we send out an alert the next day we are calling our vendors and the government to make sure everything worked. Said Chief Sanford. "If it didn't work. we find out why and we fix it."

According to the fire department, the night of the storm every alert that was sent out was received. 

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You keep going on and on about how great it is and what the new iPAWS system CAN do. Yet last Saturday was a demonstration of what the system DID do (or DIDN'T DO, in all actuality).

It sounds like you need to find out why it didn't work and quit telling us about how great it is, because so far it seems to be more of an iPOS.

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Hmmm...... Maybe the fire department forgot to ask me if I got the alert...... I'm like 8 blocks from the hardest hit Bradford area and as of today, I'm still glancing occasionally at my Samsung S7 to see if I have received my warning yet and nothing has arrived so far..............

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If you were anyone "important" you wouldn't have any issues... and always remember when you are presenting any concerns you may have toward any city employees your constitutional rights may or may not be the only thing being violated...because you are responsible for your community not any public servant/official and any grief you may or may not have is of even less importance.

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What a huge pile of hog crap! The old sirens were outdated & needed to be replaced. Replacement SHOULD have been a modern solar powered system that would be mounted on street lights every so many houses per block. These types of systems are capable of waking the dead (mounted in front of people’s houses, instead of on top of a building or on a pole in a field) & can be made neighborhood specific or citywide. They can also be used as a public address system for police/fire use or evacuation purposes.

How can these fire officials be so disconnected? I didn’t get any alerts until my windows were rattling & we were hiding in a closet. Unfortunately, I have turned off the annoying Amber Alert on my phone. I was tired of the damn thing going off at 2am for some crap going down in Houston. It appears to me that it’s time for new leadership with whoever is pushing this ridiculously flawed cell phone system. If they decide to continue this foolishness, many of our city leaders aren’t coming back after Election Day! Bring Back A New Modern Siren System!!!

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San Angelo City Council needs to do the job they were elected to do & stop harassing the cheeseburger & taco truck guys! We need effective action in patching our streets, replacing our emergency alert system with something that actually works, repairing endless water leaks & growing our economy outside of freak’n places to eat! They aren’t doing any of that! I used to think that our city was run by crooked people. Now I’m convinced they are not in touch with citizen’s needs & are nearly incompetent. Do the job you were elected to do or get out!

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You seem to be a very smart person and if you havent noticed its 2019. Silencing your phone may be your way of saying you were left untold but do u honestly think they just skipped you? The old alarms were way more trouble than they were worth. Learn to give credit where credit is do. SAFD SAPD and many other city officials deserve a Thank You and much more for the efforts they put forth. They definitely can go with out your negative comments and lack of modern times. #GOCHIEFDUNN

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What are we thanking the SAFD & SAPD for? Maybe the total failure of their ridiculous cell phone alert system & the drowning of a city police car...thanks for wasting our tax dollars! Stop taking up for your friends/relatives & except the reality that nobody did much of anything right Saturday morning. People could have died because of this foolish nonworking system. Is that REAL enough for you?

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I reside near the north gate of Goodfellow. Don't know if they sent any warnings there, but if they did I didn't get any. The Nixle alerts were a joke. Received them late. Local channels went off the air. I just silenced my phone and said there isn't anything I can do about it. I hope sudden link never looses power because then I will be in the dark. Good thing I can here the sirens from Goodfellow AFB. That is what woke me up. I could always here the sirens from the city also. City just doesn't want to fund them, they need a new arts center or painted rock instead. When someone dies and the city is sued and loses millions I will move out of town before the settlement. It will happen, when is the question.

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Bottom line can be read in the article's headline. THE SIRENS WILL NEVER RETURN. COSA has made its decision. Further input from us falls on deaf ears. They laugh at our online petition and concerns. It's done. Secure yourselves when emergent weather approaches.

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It’s time for new decision makers for CoSA. New city council, fire chief, maybe even the mayor. None have listened to what citizens want & conveniently insulated themselves with the new city gag order if one cries too much.

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