St. Louis County, MO False Alarm- 1/21/14

[uncommonsense]

Oops.

Someone hit the wrong button when trying to SiTest them...instead they set the whole blasted system off.

St. Louis seems to have a habit of doing this once every few years.

The article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

ST. LOUIS COUNTY • The county's outdoor warning sirens were accidentally tripped this afternoon during what was supposed to be a silent test.

About 2:30 p.m., the county's emergency management office was conducting a test when someone hit a wrong button, said Mark Diedrich, an emergency management specialist.

"Human error," he said. "The good news is that we know they work. With the number of calls we're getting, we know people are listening to them."

It might be a good time to check out some tips from the CDC in case of a real tornado.

Link: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... 64d67.html

[Brendan Ahern]

At least they did it at 2:30 PM and not 2:30 AM. It might be good to have some kind of warning message pop up. Something like " this action will cause sirens to activate at full volume, are you sure you want to continue?

[Archon]

better Message "You just did a big boo boo and set all the sirens off You fired"

[holler]

Actually most 911 consoles can be configured to do that. I know Zetron consoles can be setup with a warning message before you execute certain functions.

But I'm talking about a console, not an encoder with buttons you can physically touch instead of clicking with a mouse.

[Josh R]

I am not too up to par on Whelen control boards, however I do know the FS software does have a message saying, "Activate Monthly Siren Test?" The software alerts you before any tones are sent out just to make sure you didn't hit the wrong button or to make sure you hit the right button.

Yeah. Even in the Whelen E-2010 controller manual on page 3, it clearly says...
Pressing the Send button will transmit a function. There is no second chance or “are you
sure” warning.

Link to manual: http://www.whelen.com/install/133/13382.pdf

[dclarkct]

Wow, there are really untrained people controlling our sirens? You need three big red buttons "are you sure?" and yes/no. sounds like a Simpsons episode.

[Travis]

Most [large] newer Whelen systems have the encoder console paired with a computer. From what I remember about setting off the system in my hometown, [mind you this was more than 10 years ago] the sirens could be activated from the computer, or with the buttons on the console. I want to say there is a dropdown action menu, and I could see where someone might not have highlited the correct action and hit enter. There was definitely a warning message before it sent out the command, but I don't remember specifically as to what it said. More than likely it was someone who wasn't used to activating the system, or who had never done it and pushed All Call.

[Urbanexplorer]

We don't know exactly what happened in the EOC. We don't know who accidentally pressed the wrong button. It may of been someone else besides the EM.

The Siren Fairy strikes again!

[Notre.Dame1003]

Is that a Federal system? Interesting to see the new(er) interface. Here's what the old interface looked like circa 2002. Sorry for the crappy photos. This was 12 years ago. That little young'n is me.

[Trevor]

I have memories of that system, Tyler. That's the system our PD uses and that I got to set off the sirens with. I don't think they still use it but they did in 2009.