Longview Siren Test Results

LONGVIEW – Longview’s emergency sirens, for the most part successfully passed their test on Wednesday. Fire Chief J.P. Steelman said last Sunday the sirens were activated after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for southeastern Gregg County. They received reports from some residents that they heard the sirens while other residents have said they didn’t hear them. During Wednesday’s test, all twenty of the city’s strategically located sirens sounded. But three of the twenty sirens did not rotate fully. In the most recent monthly test on March 1, there were no malfunctions noted. These three sirens will be scheduled for maintenance as soon as possible. It is possible that these three were damaged in Sunday’s storm preventing them from full rotation. Those sirens are located at 1600 Blueridge Parkway, 610 East Loop 281, and 1602 W. Cotton Street. According to Chief Steelman, “we can assure the residents of Longview that the system is working properly, and it will be available if and when the next activation occurs.”

Steelman added, “During the May 28 siren activation, the City’s Emergency Communication Center was hit by a series of large electrical surges that caused damage to the network computer, lights, auxiliary computer, and radio associated with the siren system. However, Public Safety Communications were able to audibly verify that the siren nearest the communication center was activated during the storm. We cannot conclusively determine whether the power surge did or did not disrupt the siren activation, but we are taking steps to mitigate the threat of power surges in the future.”

According to a news release from the city, the City of Longview relies upon the National Weather Service to issue warnings to trigger the siren activation. In this instance the National Weather Service did not issue a tornado warning for Longview. Upon review of storm data the day AFTER the storm, the National Weather Service estimated that an EF-1 tornado started at 4:53 p.m. 6 miles northwest of Longview, concluding at 5:03 p.m. 4 miles south-southeast of Longview. By the time the Gregg County tornado warning had been issued by the National Weather Service, the tornado had already passed through Longview.

The southeastern portion of Gregg County was placed in a tornado warning at 5:11 p.m., but that warning did not specifically include Longview. The Longview sirens were activated for approximately twelve minutes from 5:15 – 5:27 based on the warning issued by the National Weather Service for Gregg County. The sirens were deactivated at 5:27 p.m. when the City of Longview Public Safety Communications staff were informed by our local SkyWarn representative monitoring the conditions that the storm and related warning did not appear to be a threat to Longview.

Chief Steelman said, “One of the questions we have heard has been about the volume of the sirens. The siren volume is set to the maximum level available, which is 130 decibel output at 100 feet. The effective range is 70 decibel at 6200 feet.”

Chief Steelman again encouraged people to sign up for CodeRed. “Our siren system is designed to be heard while outdoors. So, we encourage people to have another way to be notified of severe weather by signing up for CodeRed.” This is a free service that sends National Weather Service and other emergency notifications for the Longview area by phone or text. Sign up online at LongviewTexas.gov/CodeRed or by calling 903-237-1170.