Emergency alertsSmall Virginia town debates cost of emergency siren system
Installing an emergency siren system in Danville, Virginia would be too expensive, Danville fire chief David Eagle said during a recent update to the Danville city council on emergency notification systems. The city’s last siren system was discontinued about twenty-five years ago. A new system would cost between $300,000 and $400,000 to install, and would incur annual maintenance cost.
Installing an emergency siren system in Danville, Virginia would be too expensive, Danville fire chief David Eagle said during a recent update to the Danville city council on emergency notification systems. The city’s last siren system was discontinued about twenty-five years ago. A new system would cost between $300,000 and $400,000 to install, and would incur annual maintenance cost.
GoDanRiver reports that a review of fifty-two Virginia localities showed that only seven localities have a siren alarm system in place, four for weather alerts and three for other specific alerts.
Danville city councilman Lee Vogler, who originally proposed the siren system, asked Eagle to explore potential grants for the siren system. Referring to recommendations from FEMA, Eagle suggested that Danville should offer weather radios with battery backups which residents could purchase for $30.
Martinsville, Virginia recently received a FEMA grant for sirens after being denied funding the previous two years, and now the grant will expand Martinsville’s siren system from two to ten alarms. Eagle noted that Danville does not have an existing system in place to expand additional alarms into, and the city has forty-three square miles to cover compared to Martinsville’s eleven square miles. “We would need a minimum of 15 sirens,” Eagle said.
Council members acknowledged that a siren system is needed, but are reluctant to commit city funds for the entire cost, instead they urged Eagle to find outside funds for the siren system.
Eagle confirmed that his department is expanding its emergency notification system to include text and e-mail alerts to cell phone users in addition to the current system which notifies the 21,500 residents with landline telephones. Councilman John Gilstrap pointed out that if a weather emergency occurred, power outages could turn off most of the landline phones in the city. “They [sirens] don’t discriminate about who gets the message,” Vogler said.
