The City of Jefferson ‘s emergency siren went off for the first time in a while following Sunday nights storms and a power outage on the north side of town.
JPD Chief Tino Perez set off the siren out of an abundance of caution.
A series of heavy storms kept the county under various watches and warnings during the evening hours.
A tornado was reported east of Jefferson triggering a tornado warning but, according to Sheriff David Capps it was headed away from town and the county around 10p when the siren sounded.
Perez said the dispatch computers were down thus he sounded the siren.
The siren, which has manual set-off controls, last sounded prior to the Marion County Courthouse restoration. During the restoration, the control lines which ran between the tower behind City Hall and the MCSO Dispatch office were cut, and not repaired, thus the siren has been silent. There is another set of controls inside City Hall which were used by Perez.
The number of times the siren sounds, indicates the type of warning. 1-3 times indicates a fire and the type: 1-brush/grass; 2-vehicle; 3-structure. Four (4) times indicates a weather related, or general emergency. There are brief pauses between each sounding, followed by a longer pause before the siren repeats. Usually the siren signal is sounded twice so the type of emergency is identified.
The City and County use a system called “Smart 911” which is utilizes the cellular and email networks to provide notifications in the event of an emergency. The system is supplied by ETCOG (East Texas Council of Governments) to the County. Registration is free and includes a phone app as well as web access. Registration can be completed at smart911.com.
Notifications can be customized based on zip code or street address.