Sirens, radios alert residents during stormy conditions
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/59879/
BENTON COUNTY — Spring is in full effect in the county — and for northwest Arkansas, that means it’s storm season once again.
The cities of Rogers and Bentonville are both equipped with storm-siren systems to alert residents to seek shelter during severe weather.
When a tornado struck Bentonville on March 12, 2006, the Bentonville Fire Department was unable to sound an “all clear” signal when the storm passed because of power outages throughout the city.
Since then, the department has made upgrades to its storm-siren system. “We’re in pretty good shape,” Fire Chief Dan White said Tuesday afternoon. “We’ve got all of the sirens that we wanted to have in. … the only other place we’re really looking to put one is in the extreme north and west part of our city, around the Lowe’s area (bordering Bella Vista),” he said.
Meanwhile, Bella Vista residents can purchase storm radios from the city Fire Department.
“It’s up to the individual to get the warning siren because we do not have a storm-siren system,” Bella Vista Mayor Frank Anderson said. Approximately 15 years ago, the city, then a village, had a storm-siren system, but “it was a hit-or-miss type operation. With the terrain that we have, it just doesn’t carry well, so they decided back in those days to do away with it.”
Rogers is equipped with a number of storm sirens — but Mayor Steve Womack said the sirens are only sounded to notify residents in severe conditions — and that they are only to notify residents who are outdoors to seek shelter and seek additional information.
“Our sirens are … primarily to give (warning) to people who are outside and exposed (to the weather),” Womack said. “In all cases, a siren is enough for people to be alert, and for people to seek other mediums. When all of those things are working together,” residents can safely respond to storms, he said.
He said the best way to keep up to date on information is to have access to television and to have a battery-operated radio on hand.