by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The “Whelen”-brand storm/emergency siren installed south of Rice last week is a state-of-the-art siren with six tone options and even voice capability.
It was installed by Frontline Warning Systems of Monticello, a distributor of Whelen products, which are manufactured in New Hampshire and Connecticut. Tom Green, the owner/operator of Frontline Warning Systems, told the Sauk Rapids-Rice Newsleader there are at least a dozen Whelen-type sirens in the greater St. Cloud area, including one by the ballfield just west of Rice, two in Sauk Rapids, one in St. Joseph, one in St. Stephen and two in Royalton. Rice also has a second siren (not a Whelen brand) east of town.
This is how the Whelen sirens work:
When some disaster could be imminent or already happening, the dispatcher at the Benton County Sheriff’s Department in Foley would flip a switch that activates, via radio signal, the three sirens in the Rice-Watab Township area. Each siren then begins its loud wailing sounds, warning people a tornado has been sighted somewhere in the county, city or township and that people should take cover immediately in a basement area or storm shelter.
The siren, totally electronic, is operated by four 12-volt batteries. It also contains solar panels so the siren will work even if a storm knocks out an area’s power supply.
Besides its familiar loud eerie wail, the Whelen siren also has five other tones, such as a series of yelps, whoops and blurts. Those tones could be used to warn residents of other emergencies, such as fires or hazardous-material accidents. At this point, however, there are no plans in place to use the siren for anything other than a tornado-warning alert. Benton County Supervisor Craig Gondeck said he thinks, however, the county might well soon prepare the siren for haz-mat warnings, which would be appropriate since it’s located just east of the railroad tracks that run through Rice. Derailments, Gondeck noted, can happen anywhere.
The Whelen siren also has capability to carry voices, either a pre-recorded voice message or one directly from the dispatcher’s office. Green said the Whelen siren by Duluth harbor has a voice warning when there are dangerous rip tides at the edge of Lake Superior. There are no current plans to add voices, however, Green and Gondeck noted.
One problem with adding too many options to a siren, such as various sounds, is that people get to the point where they tend to ignore siren sounds, even if there really is an emergency. It is, Green said, like the “boy-who-cried-wolf” syndrome.
In the meantime, any time a storm siren goes off, people should heed it and immediately seek shelter.
Watab Township Board Supervisor Craig Gondeck visits the worksite where a new storm siren was installed south of Rice.
An augur drills a deep hole for a new storm siren installed near Rice last week. The work was accomplished by Starry Electric of Foley.
A work crew from Starry Electric of Rice gradually lifts the new storm siren about three miles south of Rice. Residents in the area are happy they will be able to hear tornado warnings because in the past the other sirens in the area were too distant to hear, especially with nearby trains and the heavy traffic on Hwy. 10.
