Sauk County Emergency Management say they were notified of siren outage by media
Luukas Palm-Leis, Editorial Intern
On May 21, the Spring Green area saw its first major weather threat this spring. Prior to the storm front reaching the area, announcements were made alerting residents of a malfunction with the Village of Spring Green’s emergency sirens, with both sirens themselves thought to be nonfunctional.
During the May 21 storm, area weather field stations reported wind gusts in excess of 60 mph throughout the area and for a brief moment area residents reported up to quarter sized hail. The area was also within a Tornado Warning after the National Weather Service reported radar-indicated rotation, which is a potential precursor to a ground tornado, east of the village.
At 3:41 p.m. that day, three hours before the storm hit and the Tornado Warning was issued, the Spring Green Fire Department posted on Facebook an announcement alerting residents that both of the village’s outdoor warning sirens were “out of service”, along with a note that residents should share the message and keep track of other outlets for weather news warnings.
The post continued that the issue had been discovered the week prior and that repairs had been requested.
At 6:43 p.m., just prior to the storm front hitting the village, an Integrated Public Alert & Warning System alert was sent out by Sauk County Emergency Management to area mobile phones alerting that Spring Green’s tornado sirens were not working. This notice advised the area was under a Tornado Watch and also that there was potential for very high winds, damaging hail and very heavy rain, maybe including tornadoes.
IPAWS is FEMA’s national system for local alerting that provides authenticated emergency and life-saving information to the public through mobile phones using Wireless Emergency Alerts, as well as television and radio alerts.
However, at 6:50 p.m., the north Wood Street tornado siren next to River Valley High School activated as a tornado warning was issued by the NWS. This was confirmed by the Spring Green Fire Department the following day.
The Fire Department also acknowledged in a statement the north Wood Street siren was tested as not working during the week prior, despite it activating during the storms. It was also noted the siren at the municipal golf course continued to be non-functional as of May 22.
While not mentioned during the meeting, prior to the official start of the May 22 Spring Green Village Board meeting some board members discussed the sirens.
“The sirens are to alert people that are outside to take cover,” said Robin Reid, village president for Spring Green. “In other words, they are not designed so that people in their houses can…hear them.”
Lin Gunderson, the Spring Green Fire Chief, said in response to emailed questions from Valley Sentinel that sirens are “designed as outdoor warning, but depending on proximity and wind directions could possibly be heard inside of structures,” and that residents should utilize other sources of weather information in conjunction.
The Spring Green Fire Department released a statement on May 23 saying both sirens had been repaired and were back online. Gunderson noted that the cause of the malfunction for the southeast siren was a blown fuse and that the northwest siren’s malfunction the week prior was unknown, but both had been repaired.
Jed Seidl, the Sauk County Emergency Management Director said in response to email questions that the “Sauk EMA does not purchase, setup, or maintain the sirens,” and that these are responsibilities of the municipalities. However, Seidl also noted that Sauk County Dispatch sets off the sirens.
“We were made aware that they were not working through a Madison News phone call to Sauk Dispatch,” Seidl said.
Seidel then contacted the Spring Green Fire and Police chiefs to confirm the sirens were not working and issued an emergency IPAWS message within minutes of learning of the issue.
“The emergency messaging (IPAWS) message was sent by our office. It is NOT a platform for routine use, case by case only at our discretion and adhering to very strict FEMA guidelines on when/how it is used,” Seidl said.
Valley Sentinel requested comment from Reid and Spring Green Public Works Director Adam Reno, but did not hear back from them as of press time. Gunderson did not respond as of press time to a followup question regarding notifying Sauk County Emergency Management about the siren outage. We will update this story online if we receive comment.
In a separate communication to Valley Sentinel, Reid wanted residents to be reminded that after storms the village dump, on Kennedy Road between Pearl and Ruetten Roads in Spring Green, is usually open all day for those that want to deposit branches and tree litter. For assistance or questions, call the Village of Spring Green Public Works Department at 608-588-7065.
Other area villages respond to severe weather
According to Sheila Carver, clerk for the Village of Plain, Plain operates three storm shelters for residents to use. The primary shelter is located at the Plain Fire Department building, the secondary shelter at St. Luke’s School, and the third is located in the River Valley Early Learning Center.
Carver said Plain’s sirens have not gone down during her tenure of over 18 years as clerk. She noted that in Plain the sirens are also maintained by the local fire department.
Lone Rock operates one storm shelter, which is only open during tornado warnings, located at 118 E Liberty Street, next to the library. In the event of a weather emergency, to use the shelter, contact Chris Conner at 608-604-4527 or Cameron Quinn at 608-604-4529.
We asked DaNean Naeger, Village of Arena clerk/treasurer, if the village maintained any storm shelters for severe weather.
“There are no storm shelters in the Village of Arena,” Naeger said.
Residents in Sauk and Richland counties can sign up for emergency alerts through Nixle. To sign up for Nixle alerts text your zip code to 888777 or go to local.nixle.com/register. Residents in Iowa county can sign up for emergency alerts through Smart911 at iowacounty.org/departments/EmergencyManagement.
