Communities Have Differing Standards for Sounding Sirens

Downers Grove's decision to hew to a policy that requires the sighting of a funnel cloud before activating storm sirens since Tuesday's major storm, which was undetected at the time.

Some residents in the South High School area heard Woodridge sirens sounding in advance of the storm and wondered about the discrepency in village protocols for activating the alarms.

Gina Grady, deputy chief of operations for the Woodridge Police Department, said her town's alarms were sounded by the consolidated dispatch center of which Woodridge is a member.

The town is one of 34 DuPage County communities participating in DU-COMM, the DuPage Public Safety Communications agency based in Glendale Heights.

"They assist us," Grady said. "They can active our sirens and will activate them in severe weather or when there are tornado warnings. We can also tell them to active the sirens."

While the decision to activate storm sirens isn't always clear-cut, Woodridge and DU-COMM will sound the alarm for any dangerous weather, including hail or strong winds, whether or not they are expected to produce a tornado, Grady said. The sirens will sound "if it can hurt people and has significant damaging winds that could uproot trees or damage property."

Such notice is especially necessary for those passing through the town or residents who aren't tuned into the television or another communication device, she said. "People would be alerted to seek shelter."

DU-COMM made the decision to sound the sirens in its member communities Tuesday night after learning of funnel clouds sighted in Naperville and Carol Stream and receiving a county-wide tornado warning from the National Weather Service, said John Ferraro, deputy directory. "We see them as severe weather warnings. "

He acknowledged the decision to activate alarms—or not—can be controverisal. "For everybody that questions why we did it, there are others on other side who are glad it was set off."

"Our theory is to error on the side of setting them off rather than not," Ferraro said.

The police and fire chiefs of DU-COMM member communities support that standard, he said. "They would rather deal with the nuisance of sirens going off and people taking shelter than the alternative if something is going on."

The Village of Westmont, which shares a dispatch center with Downers Grove, did not sound its storm sirens on Tuesday, said Village Manager Ron Searl. "Our policy must be fairly similar to yours. A sighted funnel cloud would have triggered the sirens and there was no indication of that."

In fact, Tuesday's weather event was unusual in that the National Weather Service announced the Downers Grove tornado after the fact instead of in advance of the storm, he said. "I think this is pretty unique. I have never seen that happen before."

He expects Westmont officials to reconsider the siren policy during the "after-action review" that typically follows a major occurence. "Everything is a learning experience."

In comments on Patch, Downers Grove Mayor Martin Tully indicated the village also may reconsider its protocol for siren use once clean up from Tuesday's storm is competed.

"Rest assured, once the heavy-lifting is over, we’ll revisit best practices, learn from this experience and adjust where necessary," he wrote. "There is always room for improvement."