New tornado sirens in rural Jefferson County will be synched with National Weather Service

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. – When a tornado rolled through Jefferson County on March 14, many residents were able to get to safety. And while the outdoor warning system sounded in the city of Arnold, much of the tornado’s path was in areas of the county that don’t have sirens. But that’s all about to change.

“Since we have started seeing a lot more very densely packed neighborhoods popping up in unincorporated parts of Jefferson County, we wanted to bring that service to those areas as well so that’s what we’re working on,” Warren Robinson, the director of emergency management in Jefferson County, said.

In the quiet town of Kimmswick, one of the 101 sirens has been installed. Officials say that population density determined placement of the sirens.

“These are places where we find 2,000 people per square mile or greater. And we still wind up covering the majority of the county geographically doing this but that way we’re making sure that we’re getting the best bang for our buck,” Robinson said.

And unlike how sirens are sounded in some counties, only the sirens within the warning polygon will go off.

“The system that we are getting is going to be able to focus in on that. So, it will automatically sound sirens only in the areas that have been warned by the National Weather Service,” he said.

Eliminating confusion on when it’s necessary to take cover. All in the hopes of keeping the community safe.

“The entire project is going to take us through next spring. So, that’s when we’ll have all 101 up and running,” Robinson said. “But just due to the nature of how this system is built, once we get our control unit put in at that point in time, and we’re expecting this will be in a couple of months, we’ll be able to bring the system online at that point.”

Outdoor warning sirens are just one tool to help people stay safe during severe weather and are meant to be heard outdoors. It’s still critical to have a charged cell phone so the wireless emergency alert system will sound, and a weather radio is another great source for weather warnings.