SAN ANTONIO – Do tornado sirens work in San Antonio? It’s a question many have asked, especially after February’s storms when four tornadoes touched down in the San Antonio area.
San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood recommended the city not spend millions of dollars on sirens. He said instead, the public should be able to rely on weather alerting technology, such as smartphone apps.
The conversation was over in minutes. Research presented during a Public Safety Committee hearing backed claims that sirens would not be beneficial for the city.
“They’re not the big tornadoes that you're going to see in Kansas or in Oklahoma, Nebraska, where their picking up the cars and the cows. These are very short lived, with winds of about 100-110 mph. They happen very quickly. They go away very quickly,” Hood said.
Some tornadoes also happen in the evening, which could make them hard to detect and warn residents.
Hood said February’s storms resulted in significant damage, but there has not been a tornado-related death since the ‘80s.
“We were looking at 159 sirens throughout the city at a cost of about ($4 million) to $7 million and about $215,000 annually for what it would take for us to maintain them, and if you look at what happened in Dallas recently, where their system was hacked, again, it doesn't seem beneficial for us,” Hood said.
In case of tornadoes, Hood said everyone should have a plan and an emergency kit, along with their cellphone.
“By having your phone, having the apps available, by maybe even having a weather radio, those are the things that are going to keep you safe,” Hood said.
The siren option was first brought up in 2012, but the conversation ended in the same result. Hood said he doesn’t expect to hear more on this issue anytime soon.
--------------------------------------------------------
Don't miss a thing. Get email alerts from KSAT 12 today.
Get alerted to news events as they happen or sign up for a scheduled news headline email that is delivered right to your inbox. Breaking news, severe weather, daily forecasts, entertainment news, all of the day’s important events to keep you up to date wherever you are.
Sign up today. It's Free.