A very important aspect of our community's safety is the Tornado Warning Sirens. These sirens will warn the community in the event of a tornado warning. We started out by installing the old siren at the Station 2 Fire Hall. This was the same siren that was purchased by the City in 1957 and was located for many years at the top of the McEwen Drug Store. A lot of people could not hear it so we had it put on a taller pole in June of 1998. We are so thankful we did that because in the the early morning hours of January 22, 1999 lives were saved when a F-3 tornado struck McEwen. That was a day we will never forget. Several days before the tornado struck McEwen we were aware of severe weather out west heading in our direction. Upon knowing this the Police and Fire Departments were alerted and prepared for what could be severe weather heading toward McEwen. The night of the tornado, Chief of Police John Ethridge and Assistant Fire Chief Doyle Brown were out and on duty some two hours before the tornado struck the City.
At the February, 1999 meeting of the McEwen Board of Mayor and Alderman, it was decided that the City would purchase four more additional Tornado Warning Sirens. The equipment was put our for bid and the W.S. Darley Co. was awarded the bid last Summer. The sirens were installed by MLEC at no cost to the City. We appreciate all the work that Junior Cable, Darrell Brown and Doyle Brown has done to wire the sirens.
The sirens are activated by radio. An encoder is used to set them off using the County Fire Department radio frequency. They can be set off from either Station 2 Fire hall in McEwen or the Humphrey's County Jail. Due authorization is required from the proper City Official using the established guidelines before they are set off. All Tornado Warnings are confirmed by the National Weather Service. The sirens may be sounded again if it is evident that a tornado is in a hazardous proximity to the City of McEwen as confirmed by radar or a separate tornado warning has been issued for this area indication a separate tornado.
An established test schedule will be prepared soon. This schedule will indicate the dates and times of when the sirens will be tested to ensure they are functioning properly. The testing of the sirens will be more frequent in the spring of each year before tornado season arrives.
