Longmont is considering scrapping its outdoor tornado warning sirens after malfunctions last year triggered the system and prompted hundreds of calls to emergency dispatchers.
The city should instead “move away from warning siren technology and look at other options for providing information to our community” about impending potential disasters, according to a memo for a Tuesday night City Council study-session.
The 17-siren system malfunctioned June 14, when a siren pole at Sandstone Ranch activated on its own around 4:50 p.m. The siren had to be shut off manually after other procedures failed, according to the memo, and calls flooded a 911 center, possibly delaying responses to actual emergencies.
A “catastrophic malfunction” occurred Oct. 13, when several sirens began self-activating as early as 3 a.m., according to the memo, and continued until shortly after 5 a.m.
Longmont normally tests its sirens at 10 a.m on the first Monday of each month from April through August, .
The city is considering several options to replacing the current system, manufactured by Boston-based Acoustic Technology Inc., including a similar outdoor system, a campaign involving weather radios and smartphone apps and a text-message alert system.
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