By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Each Tuesday at noon, Barton County Communications conducts tests of the tornado sirens in the county. Officials learned the hard way that no test is perfect. With full power during the last test on July 11, the system appeared to be in working order. With no power when the sirens were needed on July 16, the sirens failed to activate. Communications Director Dena Popp explained it was a two-part problem that has been addressed.
"The batteries didn't hold up," she said. "That was the part of the county. The generator didn't come on, which is on behalf of the city. The batteries have already been replaced and I'll be checking the other towers just to prevent anything further from those aspects of it. The fire department is working on their part with the generator issues."
Great Bend Fire Chief Brent Smith explained at Monday's city council meeting that a generator at Fire Station 2 is now being tied into the system so there is a backup to the backup. Popp said dispatchers on duty attempted to sound the sirens 10 times after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning at 6:05 p.m. Sunday evening. Law enforcement, not warnings, prompts the decision to sound the sirens.
"It is not automatic to sound the sirens just because we are in a warning," said Popp. "We don't want to over-utilize that resource. We want people to realize if the sirens are going off we believe it's very serious. We do rely on law enforcement to make that call that they feel the public is in jeopardy and they will tell us to sound the sirens. That's when we will activate the sirens."
Barton County Communications controls all of the tornado sirens in the county except those activated by staff at Barton Community College on that property.