LIBERTY, Mo. -- When severe storms head toward the metro, they trigger a response from a multitude of agencies in different counties and cities. Although efforts have been made to standardize practices, all of them have their own policies to determine when sirens will be sounded.
Missouri
Clay County
In Clay County, sirens only sound in the event of a tornado warning or a funnel spotted in the area. They can deploy all of the alarms at the same time, or they can isolate certain sirens.
Kansas City, Mo.
Kansas City has 125 outdoor sirens reserved for tornado warnings. They are split into five zones that can be sounded individually or together. The city, KCPD, KCFD and the emergency management department have access to the sirens.
They sounded citywide Wednesday night based on information from the National Weather Service. That information indicated the fast-moving storm could impact the majority of the metro.
"Our policy is to start citywide and scale back if needed. I don't want to be the guy who didn't warn our residents," City Manager Troy Schulte said.
Kansas
Wyandotte County
In Wyandotte County, sirens are reserved for tornado warnings. According to Emergency Management Director Matt May, the county is broken into zones, and sirens will be activated when a storm moves into one of them. There are three places where the sirens can be activated: from the emergency management office, from the KCKFD dispatch center and from Bonner Springs.
Johnson County
Like WyCo, Johnson County only activates sirens in the case of a tornado warning and the county is separated into sections.
"We don't want to be in the business of activating sirens for any time there's severe weather in Johnson County because we really want that siren, that sound, to stay relevant for people," Trent Pittman of Johnson County Emergency Management explained.
Leavenworth County
In Leavenworth County, officials can choose a single siren to sound in the case of a life-threatening scenario.
"A life-threatening scenario might be a hazardous material, it might be winds in excess of 80 mph- just throwing a number out there- but it's a dangerous storm or might be a tornadic event," Chuck Magaha, Leavenworth County Emergency Management Director, explained.
Kansas City, Mo.
Kansas City has 125 outdoor sirens reserved for tornado warnings. They are split into five zones that can be sounded individually or together. The city, KCPD, KCFD and the emergency management department have access to the sirens.
Efforts to Standardize
Through the Mid-America Regional Council, emergency officials meet monthly to discuss procedures and plans. The Metropolitan Emergency Managers Committee (MEMC) developed guidelines for the use of outdoor sirens. They recommend using them for imminent threats, like tornadoes, and not for flash floods or lightning.
While agencies are encouraged to consider the guidelines, they have full control over their own policies. They discuss those policies during their meetings.
"If another jurisdiction doesn't use their outdoor warning sirens specifically for tornadoes, we need to know why. That way when something happens, we can support each other," Captain Will Akin of Clay County, who chairs the committee, explained.
The MEMC will meet next Thursday, and this week's storms will be a topic of discussion.
"That way everyone has a big picture on the whole situation so we can make suggestions, recommendations on how to proceed moving forward," Akin explained.
You can read the committee's guidelines on siren use here.
