unaware of funding to fix broken tornado sirens (Indiana)

[scooterbugs25]

wow, I found this to be interesting! click the link click the lil camera thing and watch the video! a nice assortment of sirens being shown too!

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4934988

[Trey]

Wow. Thats a nice angle of the T-bolt while going! 8)

[enigma1677]

Wow cool video! That just shows you how many idiots get hired to be Ema directors and dont even know their own jobs. Plus spending money on something like a gamma detector(which will probably never be used) but fail to upgrade their siren system which gets used all the time. One word: SAD!

[Trey]

Wow cool video! That just shows you how many idiots get hired to be Ema directors and dont even know their own jobs. Plus spending money on something like a gamma detector(which will probably never be used) but fail to upgrade their siren system which gets used all the time. One word: SAD!

Very. As for that radiation detector, its really nothing more than a survey meter you can get for $125 gauranteed working. Its just a modified CDV-715, and I wouldn't think by the way it sounds would be multiple units. And a Civil Defense truck and Swat radios? I don't think so. These people have got to be some real nutcases.

[loudmouth]

And wepons of mass destruction... i donno but just spending all your money on dectors and haz mat suits and gass masks 95% of this will probly stay in the basment or in some shed and colect dust for who knows how long and if one of these Wepons of Mass destrution ever hit ... didnt these guys notice the words Mass Destruction kinda says that the stuff you bought ant gona help you much if your still alive...

[quiksmith10]

This story was also on Indy Star a couple of days ago:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... 6338965929

One of the counties they name, Boone, has severe problems with there "siren system." I put siren system in quotes because they don't even know who oversees them or where half of the sirens are actually located.

With the Federal funding point, I heard from Matt that Indianapolis is already too far along in the replacing of their system, or something of the like, to be able to use that funding. On a side note though, I was told that Indy had presentations from Federal and ASC. So we will see what comes of that. I would personally like to see more Federals since their system already comprises of many 2001s.

[Matt Hackler]

You guys are right, it is quite stupid. I highly doubt that Boone county or any of the surrounding counties near Marion County will ever experience a terrorist attack. Now I guess I could see a terrorist attack in Marion County, but still that is less likely than say Chicago or Los Angeles. Like the Emergency Response Director for Indiana said, you never know if a terrorist attack is going to happen in Central Indiana, but you can be sure that there will be tornado's.

As for using the funding for Marion County's sirens, they won't be using it this year. One, they've already committed the money elsewhere. Two they are already far enough along in the planning and development of the new system to want to intigrate the funds. Now they may use them next year, but by that time they hope to have the new system up and opperating. If they intigrated the Federal Funds It would not be until the spring of 2008 before the system would be up and running. The City/County wants the new system operational by April of 2007.

A little more on Marion Counties new system. As Brandon said, both Federal and ASC have made presentations. I guess Federal made one heck of a presentation from what I was told. The City/County has all but signed with Federal. They are looking at retaining 67 of the 70 2001's that they already have. And then adding 99 more. They want a total of 166 2001's in the system. All of the sirens must be on Public Property, so some of the existing 2001's will have to be moved. The new sirens and the ones that will be moved will most likely be put on concrete poles (please don't let that start another concrete vs. wood debate). As I said before they want the new system operational by April of 2007. Now for a government in less than a year to actually committ to and be able to complete such a task looks doubltfull. Doug at the Marion County EMA said that right now what is taking so long is the City legal department. But the City Council has already approved measures (which I can't exactly remember) to pay for the new system. They want to spend somewhere between 7 and 8 million on it. I don't know what the exact cost will be especially with concrete poles. If you want any more info on the new or old system just ask me a question. I might know or I can ask Doug.

[birdy]

As usual, Indiana doesn't have it's priorities in order. I seriously doubt the terrorists are interested in blowing up a cornfield or a dairy plant. On the other hand, tornadoes don't exactly consider the economic implications of their damage patterns.

People need to do some serious research before they make decisions like this.

[quiksmith10]

I wouldn't go saying that Indiana doesn't have it's priorities in order. Planning in advance for such terrorist disasters are a good practice. You wouldn't expect somebody to blow up a bomb in downtown Indianapolis but then again, people didn't expect someone to blow up a truck bomb in front of the Murrah Office Building. I would say that OKC is even more remote in statue than Indianapolis and recieves more than two-fold the amount of severe weather Indianapolis does. Lets face it, terrorism is more of a real fact today than it has ever been, with the threat continuously growing. Planning for these attacks are good but local governments should also be aware of the severe weather threat that is ever-present around them.

I will go out saying that the majority of Indiana is severe weather aware and have adequate siren systems. Such examples would be Evansville, Lafayette, and Indianapolis. Of course, there are many other places in Indiana that also have adequate siren systems.

[birdy]

I understand that, but I still think it's a little overkill, especially where there are not functioning siren systems. A gamma detector? Radiation suits? Come on. These things should be second in priority to severe weather preparation, which is much more than just a remote possibility here in the midwest. It just astounds me that they could have absolutely no idea what their money can be used for. Kudos to the TV station for pointing it out to them.

JMO of course.