Nearly three-hundred emergency sirens across the state will get upgrades by the end of this year to comply with a Federal Communications Commission mandate. Its an upgrade that will move us from having radio activated sirens to a satellite and cellular activation system. After the upgrades, state and city officials will then be able to activate them from a computer system.
Once this project is complete, the state will have a standardized control system for its emergency sirens for the first time in history.
"This new system gives us feedback and its a two way system now so this is a major improvement," says George Burnett, State Civil Defense Telecommunications Branch Chief.
Officials say the current radio operated activation system is dependent on the public because officials do not always know if sirens are malfunctioning unless someone from the public informs them.
The new system will put all four counties on the same operating system through the use of both satellite and cellular technology.
It will also help officials localize alerts.
"We can just activate one single siren in the past we just put out a blanket broadcast that would turn all the sirens on," says Burnett.
Though the new system is being improved, officials are still asking for the public’s input through a web-app that was launched earlier this year. It lets people adopt a siren in their neighborhood.
"They’ll be able to report to us on a monthly basis if the siren did work or more importantly if the siren didn’t work," says Peter Hirai, Department of Emergency Management.
Hirai says, while system upgrades are being done, sirens may go off at times other than their normal monthly test, but he advises the public not to panic.
"We will never sound the sirens without putting something on the radio and television and on the emergency alert system," says Hirai.
The first phase of the project is modernizing the activation system, but other upgrades are also planned, including improvements to the sirens themselves and replacing termite-eaten poles.
"We’re trying to improve the system many of the sirens that are installed right now are 20-30 years old some even older and they’re literally falling off the poles," says Burnett.
The upgrades of the two-hundred and ninety-one sirens will cost $2 million.
The state is also planning to add more sirens, by 2014, they hope to have more than five-hundred statewide.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
