ELGIN Okla_ The City of Elgin is adding two new
storm sirens to help protect residents from storm threats.
Mayor Larry Thoma
said a $45,000 grant from the Association of South Central Oklahoma Governments
will pay for them. The city currently has only one siren in the central part of
town, but due to Elgin's
rapid expansion, several neighborhoods can't hear it. Thoma said these new
sirens will place the entire Elgin
community under a blanket of safety.
When it comes
to severe storms, things can take a dangerous turn in seconds. So, the fact
that several neighborhoods couldn't hear the sirens troubled city officials.
They wanted to find a way to pay for new sirens, without dipping into city
funds. This grant couldn't have come at a better time.
Thoma said the
city wants to make sure everyone hears the siren's blaring call.
"It can reach
those new subdivisions," Thoma said. "We hope to put one out near Kinney Road'. That
would reach Shadow Ridge, Rock
Bridge, and Shadow Acres.
Hopefully it will be strong enough."
Mayor Thoma said
in the event of a storm right now, firefighters would have to go back to the
station to push a button to sound the alarm. He said the new sirens can be
activated remotely via radio, saving precious time off of the emergency
response.
"Our fire
department has a very quick response time," Thoma said. "They are also fathers
and parents. They're going to be able to, as they take care of their own
families, set those off, react to their families, and communicate at the same
time through the radio."
Residents who
live in the neighborhoods deaf to the storm siren say the new alarms will make
them feel safer.
"We'd feel
a lot more secure," resident Lia Gonzalez said. "We're new to Oklahoma. So, not being able to be on top of
weather that is so severe here worries me. Coming from Michigan, we don't have weather like this.
So, that definitely reassures me."
"Knowing
that they can just spot something like that, make a call, and immediately set
off a siren and give us plenty of warning, I feel a lot better that way,"
resident Steven Brent said. "You just never know. Tornados come up out of the
blue sometimes."
Mayor Thoma said
the new sirens can be heard through a near two-mile range. They cost about $19,000
each. He said he hopes to have them installed by April.
