With assistance from the Saline County Emergency Management Department, the City of Salina is now in the process of upgrading the outdoor warning siren system. This includes the reuse of 5 existing sirens and the addition of 7 new sirens. You may notice siren work in your neighborhood. The upgrade will take just a few short weeks to complete. These sirens will provide outdoor warning for weather events across the entire community and is funded with local sales tax dollars.

Advantages of the new electro-mechanical rotating warning sirens include:

• The sirens are individually addressable. If a particular area is threatened, sirens sound in that area only.
• The sirens are equipped with two-way communication capabilities that allow technicians to remotely check the working status of the sirens at any time.
• In addition to electricity, the sirens can utilize solar energy and battery  backup power.
• The sirens have flashing indicators at their base to help alert hearing impaired people who may be in the vicinity when the sirens sound.

The sirens are controlled by radio signal from the 911 Communications Center and are activated only upon report of severe weather from the National Weather Service, or report of a funnel cloud or tornado by a trained weather spotter. This new system will give Salinans an enhanced outdoor warning capability for the next 30 years.

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