According to Nes Levotch, Director of the Washington County, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, it is due in part to our terrain. “Years ago, there was a study done here with the topography…we would have to have sirens set over every ridge and mountain to really have an effect.” Levotch added, “…The cost to do a project of that magnitude in our county, we just didn’t have the money.”
Jerry Fleenor, SullivanCounty’s Emergency Management Agency Director, said that he is drafting a proposal to get sirens installed across all of SullivanCounty. Fleenor said he hopes to get the proposal to the county commission in the coming months. Currently, there are a few sirens in Bristol and Kingsport; however, Fleenor said that the county doesn’t have a severe weather policy in place for these sirens, so you can’t rely on these sirens for severe weather.
Tornado sirens are designed for outdoor use only. This means that they are only effective if you are within ear-shot and you are outside, on the baseball field, for example. The best advice, when it comes to severe weather safety, is to get a weather radio. A NOAA weather radio with an alert feature will sound a siren when a warning is issued for your area. Essentially, it is like having your own personal tornado siren. NOAA weather radios can be found at electronic stores, and they typically run anywhere from $20 to $80, depending on the model
Read more about Tri-Cities tornado warning systems in Friday’s Bristol Herald Courier.
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SPECIAL REPORT PREVIEW: Where Are The Tri-Cities Tornado Sirens?
Tornadoes have struck in and close to our region two times in two months. The first tornado touched down in Big Stone Gap, Virginia on March 4, 2008. This tornado was rated an EF-1 on the Enhanced-Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity. This means that the tornado had estimated winds between 65 and 110 miles per hour. Six homes were destroyed and lives were changed forever.
Another tornado touched down on the southeastern side of Virginia, creating a path of damage from Suffolk to the Norfolk Naval Air Station on April 28th. This tornado was rated an EF-3, with estimated winds around 165 mph. This tornado destroyed a dozen homes and injured 200 people.
Even though we aren’t in “tornado alley,” the recent tornadic activity raises the question, “why don’t we have tornado sirens?”
Tonight at six, News Channel 11 finds one county is making plans to change this troubling safety issue. So why aren’t the rest?
A special report, tonight at six, only on News Channel 11.
I think we need the tornado sirens as well. If I remember well around 1974 there was a ?tornado that hit the Twin City Drive In and destroyed Byers Restaurant, destroyed a Mobile Home on Broyles Lane. Then around 2002 there was something else that knocked over trees and took off the roof of Century Square Apartments. They say these were big winds. Hurricanes at least give a few days warning tornados give a few minutes. That is not much time to save lives.
Posted May 09, 2008 @ 05:30 PM by ff14
I think that tornado sirens are great. And even though dispatch cannot manually activate ALL of the sirens, this just means it is up to the local fire depts. But there are at least 3 sirens that I know of within the city limits of Bristol Tn., and there is a siren behind East Fire Dept. on Weaver Pike in Bristol, and one behind Piney Flats Fire Dept. and I'm sure that there are more that I am just not aware of.
Posted May 09, 2008 @ 01:43 PM by Missy2008
They should be albe to pay for the sirens, with the money they get from the speed and red light camera's. What are they using that for? It sure is not for the counties.
Posted May 09, 2008 @ 10:51 AM by T.C.
I was shocked to find out that we didn't have sirens already in place. I live in washington co. I say let's do it. What is the county waiting for? I bet if you asked any individual, they would agree the cost of a siren is pocket change compared to the price of their lives. Even though the sirens only help when you are outside to hear them, um...This is farm country... We have a lot of farmers in this area, they need to hear if bad weather is approaching when they are out in their fields!
Posted May 09, 2008 @ 09:48 AM by 37601
Sirens are about the last thing we need to be spending money on around here. When was the last tornado in Sullivan or Washington County? Why don't we put in Hurricane detectors too?
Posted May 09, 2008 @ 09:41 AM by Dr. R. L. Mitchell
I'm surprised to know that there are NO sirens in the most major parts of Sullivan County. I'm from the tornado alley part of the United States, and I've been here in Kingsport for 11 years now. So far I have noticed only one major time of a possible tornado that was in limits of Kingsport, but was declared as a heavy down-draft type of winds. At the time there were NO sirens to sound a warning. 1998 was the year if my memory serves me correctly. A tornado touched down in Hawkins Co. that day.
Posted May 08, 2008 @ 10:56 PM by sonji704
The fact is tornado sirens save lives..If the conditions are right, what seems like a simple thunderstorm can be life threatening in a matter of seconds. A person has no time to seek protection when the house begins to crumble around them. With a siren system in place, people have time to seek shelter. I lived in tornado alley for 7 yrs and if it had not been for a wonderful siren system my family would have not known to take cover for the tornadoes that touched down. I witnessed lives saved.
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