Dearborn’s Outdoor Warning System to be Improved
Dearborn’s outdoor warning system will be receiving four new sirens as a way to address city and resident complaints that the present Wayne County-installed system is inadequate.
In March 2009, we wrote how the 12 sirens installed by Wayne County weren’t enough to cover the same geographic area that the city’s 28 “old” sirens previously did.
At that time, Wayne County promised the city four more sirens would be forthcoming as a way to fix the sound shortage.
Now, more than a year later (following pressure from Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. , with support from Wayne County Commissioner Gary Woronchak) four additional sirens are expected to be installed this fall.
The city says the four additional sirens will be installed in these areas:
- Whitmore-Bolles school area
- near the Oakwood Common retirement community
- near the Dearborn Hills Golf Course and
- near Cherry Hill and Outer Drive
These are many of the same areas residents complained they were unable to hear sirens following heavy storms in June. Click HERE for that story.
In addition to those four new sirens, Dearborn will benefit from the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s installation of four sirens to serve its campus on Evergreen between Ford Road and Michigan Avenue.
Further, the city will be pursuing two to four more sirens through federal Homeland Security grants. These sirens will have voice capabilities to alert people to seek cover indoors, or provide other specific directions.
The plan is to install these additional sirens in areas where large crowds typically gather outdoor, such as for athletic events, at visitor attractions or during festivals.
Even with the additional sirens, Dearborn public safety officials continue to say that the sirens are “meant to get the attention of people who are outdoors to alert them to seek shelter” and “not meant to be the primary warning for people already inside. In fact, they may not be heard inside houses or buildings.”
Dearborn advises residents to monitor TV and radio reports if weather conditions seem threatening and invest in weather radios or all-hazard radios to better ensure they remain informed.
August 16th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Ill be i still wont be able to hear them, we want the old ones back!
August 17th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Many people complained from the East side of Dearborn but I don’t see any new sirens coming to our area.
Is only one area of Dearborn important to the City? It’s too bad since it isn’t the West side of Dearborn that is thriving at the moment.
Obviously, the city government doesn’t care about the entire city. The voters of East Dearborn don’t forget.
I would like to have someone from the city respond to this and tell me how this decision was made.
August 17th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
kEEP o’rEILLEY’S INPUT OUT OF IT, OR ELSE WE WILL NEED HEARING AIDS TO HEAR THEM.
August 18th, 2010 at 8:10 am
How much is this going to cost the taxpayers? It seems like just another waste
of money. Can’t the average person take a look at the sky and determine for
themselves if they need to seek shelter? Are we that helpless that we need the government to protect us from a little thunderstorm?
August 18th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Heh you got that right tarik.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
What a joke — please, please keep the city input at a bare minimum, we can’t afford to take a chance on them.
August 19th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
They said the sirens were old and we couldn’t get parts for them. They can’t be much over 20 years old because I remember around how old my kids were when they went it. THEN I was driving through Inkster and saw the same sirens there. I wonder how Inkster gets parts for their sirens?
I’m tired of the waste and then they want to take a lifelong tradition like our neighborhood pools and say they don’t have money for something that sets our city apart from any other city. How many people buy a home because if how new and fancy the warning sirens are? And how many people would buy a home because there was a park and pool near by??
August 20th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Off topic, but when did the Hampton Inn change hands? I see it is now the Dearborn West Village Inn. We knew it was coming. I’m glad the hotel is staying in business. It seems like a clean, well-kept property.