Denver begins upgrade of decades old siren system
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:38 am
http://www.examiner.com/article/denver- ... em?cid=rss
In an effort to keep up with new technology and improve warnings to residents, the city of Denver began a much-needed upgrade of its outdoor warning sirens yesterday. The system will feature improved reliability and the ability to target warnings.
Lying at the western edge of Tornado Alley, the Mile High City sees more than its fair share of deadly severe weather each year. Sirens are seen as a way of ensuring that residents know when danger approaches and have time to seek shelter.
The first of 56 new sirens was installed at Green Valley Ranch Boulevard and Genoa Street yesterday by contractor Blue Valley Public Safety. The sirens are battery operated and solar charged and more reliable than the World War II era hardware currently in place.
Denver residents will still hear the same, familiar wail they have heard many times over the years. However the new system will allow emergency managers to target the sounding of the sirens to specific areas facing a threat rather than sounding all of the sirens across the city at once.
Also notable will be the discontinuation of the weekly tests of the system conducted in the past that sometimes caused alarm among the residents and, perhaps most dangerously, could lead to complacency. The new system will still be tested weekly but in a ?silent mode?. Audible tests will only be done once each year.
Denver expects the new system to be entirely online by the 2013 severe weather season.
On average the Centennial State records 47 twisters a year, some of which have caused extensive damage in the Denver area. While Denver has sirens, many communities along the Colorado Front Range have never installed a system including Thornton, ironically the site of the most damaging tornado in Denver metro area.
