The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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July 2, 2008

Honigsberg is still looking for reason storm sirens sounded

By Robert Barron, Staff Writer

Enid Emergency Management Director Mike Honigsberg has not been able to determine what caused city storm sirens to go off Tuesday night, even though there was no threatening weather in the area.

“The electric people came and looked at it, and the problem is indeterminate,” Honigsberg said Wednes-day. “We’re not sure why it happened.”

He said city officials were placing a program on the system at Enid Police Department to record all activity to see if anything occurs inadvertently, but he thinks Tuesday’s issue was a computer glitch.

About 11:10 p.m. Tuesday, city sirens sounded, although weaker in some place than the normal signal.

“When everything is computerized, things can go awry at times and that’s what happened,” he said. “I apologize for waking some people and scaring others.”

Honigsberg said he also is working on changing the firing sequence that sounds the sirens. Currently, he said, it is a two-tone sequential system, which he wants to change to a different type of mechanism that requires inputting a three- or four-digit code to access the sirens, then another code to stop it.

“I got a lot of calls. I don’t know how many the police received — a lot — but on the command center phone, I got 30 and on my personal cell phone I got another 15,” he said.

Honigsberg reminded Enid residents outdoor sirens are for people who are outdoors and sometimes people who are inside will not hear them. Some calls he received Wednesday were from people who were concerned because they did not hear the sirens sounding Tuesday night.

“If you are inside, you may not hear them. People should have indoor warning devices also,” he said, such as a weather radio that sounds a warning during severe weather.

Honigsberg said when the sirens sound people should not call 911 because it bogs down the system. Turn on local radio stations, he said, and they will broadcast warnings. In the future, he said, the emergency management Web site, www.gcem.org, also will have the information on it.

Storm sirens are tested the first Monday of each month. The next test will be noon Monday, Honigs-berg said.

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