Ellis County will getting new outdoor warning systems in several locations later this year after the county commission gave the go-ahead to purchase a new system Monday.
The current storm sirens are nearly 40 years old and in need or replacement, according to Director of Fire and Emergency Darin Myers.
Myers said the current sirens, with the exception of the six recently installed in the city of Hays, have been experiencing several issues. The city of Hays began installing new sirens after 2010, and Fort Hays State also replaced an aging siren around that same time.
In the existing sirens, there is no way to determine if they are working properly outside of the weekly test at noon Monday. If the power goes out, there is no way to activate the sirens, and they must be activated through a process that takes several steps and adds extra time to the notification process.
Myers said the new system will have several advantages.
“They’ll all have battery backup. They’ll all be connected to a server here within Ellis County, so that way if anything ever goes wrong with them, they fail to operate, the power goes down (or) somebody plows a telephone pole over in an accident, we’ll immediately get called, emailed and notified. … That way, we can get service out to get the sirens back up and running,” Myers said.
(Read more: Hays Post)