Where were the Sirens?  The sirens are only an outdoor warning device.  They should not be relied upon to inform you of impending weather threats.  In the case of our sirens on Monday.  There was a power glitch where we lost power for a brief time prior to the severe portion of the storm.  Even though there is a generator at the fire station that allows us to have power even though there is a power failure, this takes time to start.  The generator will start on it's own but there is a time delay until the power is restored at the fire station.  When this happens it causes all of our systems to reset, some of which have to be manually reset from the fire station.  This is what caused the delay in the OUTDOOR WARNING SIRENS to be sounded.  We are alerted as to the warnings as soon as you are.  Again I would like to stress that the sirens are only an outdoor warning device and should not be relied upon for the only form of severe weather alert.  I would like to advocate the use of Weather Alert Radios.  Every household should have one and it should be set to alert when there is a warning that affects our area.  Machines do fail which is out of our hands.  This is why everybody should have their own weather alert radio at their home to inform them of impending weather threats.   Weather alert radios can be purchased at many retail outlets, including electronics, department, sporting goods, and boat and marine accessory stores and their catalogs. They can also be purchased via the Internet from online retailers or directly from manufacturers.   So please go out and purchase one today.
 
Joshua J. Burke
Assistant Fire Chief/Paramedic
Eagle Volunteer Fire & Rescue