By Genine Hopkins
The EF1 tornado that struck just southeast of Lake George this past Friday somehow took the path of least resistance and missed almost all man-made structures. This could have been far worse, as its path just a little more toward Arbor Rd or if it zig zagged to Harrison, could have resulted in more damage to homes and the potential for loss of life. Harrison’s sirens were loud enough to be heard over the roar of the trucks participating in the Mud Bog at the Clare County Fairgrounds, but Hayes, Garfield, and Hamilton Townships did not have sirens, and the sirens in Lincoln Township, closest to the tornado’s initial touchdown, both failed at the Fire Station and at the Silver Lake Beach site. Most of us recall hearing the sirens tested the first week of every month, but that has now become a thing of the past. So what happened?
According to Jerry Becker, Clare County’s Emergency Manager, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) stopped issuing grants for emergency sirens when the agency began to switch to cell push notifications for emergencies. These notifications do work even if cell towers are down, BUT unlike we were initially informed, a cell user can turn off these notifications, leaving the user vulnerable to missing emergency alerts.
Without siren tower funding for new sirens or repairs to existing sirens, the local entities are now responsible for maintaining and funding repairs, although there are some private grants that might be available. Additionally, with the turnover of township elected officials, and despite having conversations with newly elected township representatives, Becker says a lot falls between the cracks.
“Often the outgoing officials don’t leave a lot for newly elected officials in the form of communicating these important aspects of their jobs,” Becker said, “I have this conversation after every election cycle, but there is still often a misunderstanding.”
Some of that misunderstanding is who is responsible for maintaining the sirens. Becker reiterated that the townships are responsible for maintaining and testing sirens in their areas, the county only sends out the emergency warnings but the townships must make sure their sirens are in working order. Additionally, Becker said the cost of maintenance can also be overwhelming especially with local budgets becoming tighter.
“I used to get calls from the townships after their monthly tests letting me know everything was okay; now I no longer receive any calls,” said Becker, while noting he can hear Harrison’s sirens during the monthly testing from his office.
The failure of the Lincoln Township sirens is under investigation. Both Becker and Majewski believe the older, mechanical siren at the Fire Hall most likely failed in the minutes it took for the back up generator to click on after power went out before the tornado hit. Majewski is meeting with a service company to determine why the Silver Lake Beach siren did not respond to the alert and sound its siren.
The emergency siren at the Harrison Airport has been out since 2012. It needed updating and there was no real imperative to spend money doing this. Now that Hayes Township no longer funding the Harrison Airport, Becker has reached out to both other townships to see if they are interested in helping with that. Even if there are no repairs to sirens, the batteries – which are heavy and need to be changed quite high up on the tower, must be replaced every four to five years. Hamilton Township’s siren has been out for about two years as well, although Becker said they are currently working on getting theirs up and running again.
“We applied for and received a $16,000 grant from TransCanada Pipeline last year to purchase as many weather radios as we could buy with the money. We ended up purchasing hundreds of them, distributing many to local townships, Clare County Senior Services, and kept some here as well for distribution. Those were available to any citizen needing one but those are now all gone,” Becker said.
Weather radios work without cell service, when electricity is down (if they have good batteries in them), and are a great method of receiving alerts in addition to the FEMA ordered push notifications. Sirens do have their disadvantages as well, only being heard in a one to three mile radius, so in rural locations, they do need to be supplemented.
