06/02/2026
Ok, let’s talk sirens & weather notifications.
NEVER WAIT FOR A SIREN
Never wait for a siren to take shelter. Coffey County Public Notifications (Everbridge), NOAA weather radio, weather apps, NWS & Coffey County EM social media will all alert you immediately of a Warning issued for our area. Sirens are outdoor warning systems, meant to notify people outdoors to go inside to check all the outlets listed above. They are not designed to pe*****te all houses, buildings or structures. They are designed to alert those outdoors in populated areas to come inside during an emergency situation to check all their outlets mentioned above or to alert fire personnel to report to their station (2 different tones). While it is a benefit for those who can hear them inside, it is not their intended purpose. So, if you have a relative tell you they heard the sirens, you think you heard a siren or didn’t hear one but received notification from any outlet of impending severe weather, act first! Never wait on a siren.
SIRENS ARE OLD TECHNOLOGY
Sirens are an aging technology. They’ve been part of our lives for a long time. But, the technology you have on your cell phone, TV & weather radio is far superior. The Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) sent out to all those hitting off cell towers in the warned areas, beat the sirens by several minutes. We sound the sirens when we get the same notification you do or if our spotters see something. Sirens can fail & have in the past. This is why we ask you to have multiple ways to get notifications of weather. All technology can fail but they usually won’t all fail at once. Sirens are becoming obsolete & many counties & cities are not replacing them simply because we have better, faster ways to notify more residents.
REPORTS OF NOT HEARING THE SIRENS
Sunday night, we sounded the sirens in Gridley & LeRoy. We had several storms coming our way & did have spotter confirmed sighted rotation. We sound the sirens during a tornado warning for the area it affects. We sound the sirens if a trained spotter sees rotation or tornado conditions that would warrant getting the public indoors to check all the same above outlets.
After sounding the sirens, we had several reports of residents saying they didn’t hear the sirens. So, we sounded them again. We won’t do this again. That can be confused with an All Clear, which we do not do. Our sirens are computerized & provide results & status information to the Dispatchers which can confirm the sirens sounded & rotated. Since these are outdoor warning systems, not everyone can hear them inside. We did post on social media that we were sounding the sirens & the sirens did function both times in each city, we have confirmation of this. Those who saw the post but didn’t hear the siren should still follow the same procedure as those who did hear them – seek shelter, check the outlets above, make sure your supply kit goes with you. Your phone, TV, radio, weather radio are the true warning delivery system telling you danger is imminent. They will tell you location, timing, conditions & what to do.
CELL PHONE OUTAGE
Current cellular outage – it’s a major pain. And, it could have affected you receiving WEA alerts we talked about above. We know this & this is why you must have MULTIPLE ways to receive alerts. If a cellular customer does not have cell service, they still would have received the alert on a NOAA Weather radio, local TV or radio. There are so many social media sites & websites you can check with livestream meteorologist if you have internet capabilities.
WE ARE PROVIDING AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE
Our office tries to update our Facebook from NWS & our local spotter reports. We have local spotters out, dispatchers receiving calls & watching radar, our office watching radar, talking directly to NWS in Topeka & sometimes Wichita. We had professional spotters in our area with livestreams & pictures Sunday night. There’s a huge team of people working quickly to make sure our citizens are safe. We might not answer all your questions because we are very busy but we sure try. We realize not everyone follows us on Facebook but YOU SHOULD! If you do not, please make sure you have multiple ways to be notified of severe weather, we can’t stress this enough. Also, share any information you see with neighbors & friends.
Our office is open for questions or suggestions, you can also email, FB message or call us.
