The City of Fort Smith maintains 27 Emergency Alert Sirens, usually called Tornado Sirens, located throughout the city proper in a manner to provide the most coverage to the citizens.
The primary reason for the existence of these sirens is to alert any citizen that is outside a building of a potential emergency situation, so that they may seek shelter and additional
media information via radio, television or other communication. Due to the potential for severe weather in this area these sirens have been primarily used for alerting the city’s citizens
to the imminent approach of a tornado, however they may also be used to alert the citizens in the event of any potentially large scale incident that could affect parts of the city, or the
city as a whole. These types of incidents might include rapid river flooding, approaching wildfires or the smoke from such, rioting, acts of terrorism, hazardous materials spills, or any
other large scale incident that could affect the city. The sirens can produce two separate tones and the one most familiar to the citizens is the solid "wail" tone produced, commonly
recognized as the "Tornado Warning." The second tone will sound similar to the "Tornado Warning," but will change intensity in an undulating manner.
The sirens are equipped with a receiver and are activated via radio wave signals. The City of Fort Smith is not responsible for the activation of sirens in surrounding cities.
The emergency alert siren's "Tornado Warning" tone (click here to listen) is tested at noon on the second Tuesday of each month
in order to make certain the system is operating properly, however the "Emergency" tone (click here to listen) has rarely been tested. The second Tuesday of September just happens to be
the 11th, also the eleventh anniversary of the tragic events that took place on 9/11/2001.
In an effort to make certain the "Emergency" tone operates properly, to familiarize the citizenry with this tone in the event of an actual emergency, and to commemorate the events
of 9/11/2001 we will activate the "Emergency" tone at noon on September 11th, 2012.
The City of Fort Smith and the Fort Smith Police Department is not responsible for activating or testing Emergency Alert Sirens outside the city limits of Fort Smith.
Click here for additional information concerning the Emergency Alert Sirens/Tornado Sirens.
|
