Shawnee County officials have the technology during tornado warnings to sound sirens only in the storm’s path. But they recently decided, at least for now, to first sound them countywide to get people’s attention. “We anticipate doing this for the next few years,” said Dusty Nichols, director of Shawnee County Emergency Management. “It is kind of a culture shift, and we need to educate and err on the side of safety.” Nichols’ department over the past couple years has been capable, whenever a tornado warning is put out, of drawing a polygon on a computer screen map to arrange for sirens to sound only in the warned area. Nichols told The Capital-Journal last May that his department planned during tornado warnings to only sound outdoor warning sirens in the “polygon lane” for which the warning had been issued. But Nichols said this past week that, for now, the county during times of tornado warnings will initially sound all 67 sirens it operates countywide. Each siren, once activated, remains on for three minutes. “That way, if people are not paying attention — if they’re in bed, or whatever — then hopefully that will wake them up and get their attention,” he said.
Source: CJonline
