Tuesday at noon City of Sulphur Springs Emergency Management will sound the emergency warning sirens for a full three minutes during a test of the instruments. Four sirens have undergone repairs in the last few days following lightning strikes that disabled them.
Two of the sirens were disabled shortly before a tornado warning issued last week. A third siren was struck by lightning during the warning and a fourth was struck during thunderstorms that followed the warning. Chief of Police Jay Sanders states that thanks to the redundancy of sirens in the city, no part of the city was without warning at the time of the severe weather alert.
The full three minute sounding of the sirens is a bit unusual for a test but, according to Sanders, has been made necessary due to the repairs made. He also said that this test is usually an annual test and the sirens in the city are approaching that time. Locally, showers and thunderstorms enter the forecast Wednesday night and continue through Friday with a range of 20%-50% during the time period. A need for the sirens could exist during that time period.
The sirens are sounded not only for weather warnings, which is the most common in the area, but are also used in case of any emergency that could affect the safety and lives of citizens.
