Mobile County Gets New Emergency Sirens

Mobile Emergency Five new areas will be in earshot of emergency sirens with new installations in the communities of Semmes Coden Dauphin Island Satsuma and Prichard.

by Mobile County PIO

Published: Wed, February 04, 2009 - 11:10 am CST Last Updated: Wed, February 04, 2009 - 11:12 am CST

Five new areas will be in earshot of emergency sirens with new installations in the communities of Semmes, Coden, Dauphin Island, Satsuma and Prichard.
The Coden and Dauphin Island sirens were purchased with funds donated by Exxon Mobil. The siren will be the first for Coden; Dauphin Island had existing sirens on the east and west ends and the new siren will be centrally located.
The Semmes, Prichard and Satsuma sirens, a first for all the communities, were purchased with a state Homeland Security Grant acquired through the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency.
Cost for all five sirens is $82,000.
“An emergency siren can mean the difference between life and death,” said Mobile County Commission president Mike Dean, whose district includes coastline communities that were hammered by Hurricane Katrina.
EMA and local officials generally work together to locate an emergency siren where the greatest need is identified, installing them often near schools, retirement homes and such. There are about 50 emergency sirens located in the Mobile area.
The new sirens will be sounded for the first time during the 9 a.m. Wednesday test of the emergency warning system. The sirens are used in the event of an emergency such as a hurricane or tornado or hazardous materials incident. During an actual emergency, citizens are encouraged to go inside their homes, shelter in place, and tune to local television or radio stations for further information.

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cmb1 Says:

Thu, Feb 05, 2009 at 2:51 pm

I live and work in Semmes and i have never heard it. Where is it in Semmes?

Shubunkin Says:

Thu, Feb 05, 2009 at 1:17 pm

They must not be anywhere near me in Semmes. I never heard anything.

BamaBob Says:

Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:42 am

Last time it went off for a tornado warning and shook me out of bed about 3:00. I stumbled around and finally went online to see what was up. A series of bad storms were passing south of Dauphin Island, which didn’t threaten me at all. So, I almost get back to sleep and it went off again! I gave up at that point and just made coffee.

It is louder than the old ones and has a real haunting sound. It does get your attention.

KxVicious Says:

Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:41 am

Everytime I’ve heard them, I’ve quickly gone inside and turned the TV on to find out what the emergancy is, only to find nothing. Now it’s like the train…I just ignore it.

mustuknow Says:

Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:37 am

Lol. So you are saying it gets your attention huh BamaBob??? We do not have them in my community but in the town where I use to work they had them and they tested them the first Tuesday of every month at 12 noon and it would always startle me, I cannot imagine being woke up at 3 in the morning by one of them…. I bet your adrenaline is pumping like a 18 year olds when you are awaken by one of those things.

BamaBob Says:

Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:28 am

One of these things must be fairly close to my house and it will scare you to death at 3:00 in the morning!