Washington County will test storm sirens Tuesday

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023, Washington County Emergency Management will be escorting a consultant with Safer Services Corp throughout the county to complete an evaluation of our Outdoor Warning Siren system.

In a new release, the county said it was working to ensure its sirens appropriately covered expanded population areas, and said the tests were the first step in expanding the footprint of its warning devices.

The evaluation will include “acoustical profiling” to gauge the current coverage of existing sirens; therefore, sirens in communities around the county may be tested throughout the day. This may include full, three-minute activations in order to collect accurate, complete data. County officials said there was no concern that emergency activation would be necessary during the time, with severe weather not in the forecast for Washington County on Tuesday.

“I’m excited to be moving forward with this project,” Emergency Management Coordinator, Marissa Reisen said in the news release. “For years, I’ve worried about the lack of siren coverage in some of our recreational areas and parks where cellular reception may not be ideal for receiving alerts via our Alert Iowa system. This helps create redundancy, which will ensure that residents and visitors in Washington County will receive timely information to keep them safe in the event of severe weather.”