The previous owner, NextEra Energy Resources , donated the sirens within the Emergency Planning Zone , a 10-mile ring around the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo , and the county agency took ownership at the beginning of this year.
NextEra, owner of the now-retired Duane Arnold nuclear power plant, donated 144 Whelen outdoor sirens and four control stations — together worth more than $1 million — to the Linn County agency. NextEra had owned the system for three decades, but the county has always been responsible for activation.
However, many communities' own sirens are also part of the county's system, so the county can activate them if severe weather appears, said agency coordinator Steve O'Konek .
"When the offer was made to EMA to receive the donation of the sirens, the commission overwhelmingly approved to accept the sirens," O'Konek said. "Had the commission not chosen to accept the sirens, there would have been a huge gap in the outdoor warning sirens in the EPZ."
While it was no cost to receive ownership, maintenance for the sirens will cost $175,200 per year for up to 146 sirens.
"Over the next year, we will be working with each community to integrate those that wish to come on the system," O'Konek said. "We also accepted as part of our system, a few sirens located in Benton County to ensure outdoor warning is maintained in Palo , Walford and other outdoor areas near Pleasant Creek ."
Linn County warning sirens are not automated
The warning system in Linn County is activated by human interaction only, O'Konek said. Many of the sirens are solar powered so if the power goes out, the sirens still work.
"We want to ensure that an automated system isn't in control of the warning," he said. "We want a human being to evaluate the threat, know the situation on the ground and make a conscious decision to activate the system. Some counties rely on automated systems. We choose not to."
O'Konek added that staff respond to severe weather conditions with members of volunteer fire departments within the county to provide information from the ground.
"Sometimes they report to us funnel clouds or tornadoes before the ( National Weather Service ) can," he said. "We can activate warnings ahead of the NWS when we see the threat. ... Technology is good, but as we all know not infallible."
Over one week ago, as tornadoes ripped through parts of Iowa , including from Winterset to Newton , weather service alerts were delayed for some due to a glitch in its system, though the outdoor warning system still worked that day. Forecasters confirmed 13 tornadoes struck Iowa that day, March 5 .
Residents should not rely only on sirens
O'Konek said it's important for people to have multiple ways to receive weather warnings and to not rely on just one.
"Outdoor warning systems are meant for outdoor warning," he said. "People need to sign up for weather alerts or Linn alerts on their phones. Buy a weather radio. Automated systems sometimes fail. No one option should be considered the answer for all."
When storms and tornadoes came through the Eastern Iowa area the same night they struck Winterset , the county agency was able to activate sirens in just the northwest quadrant of the county, where funnel clouds and tornadoes were seen. That modification was made a couple of years ago.
"Because our county is now divided into quarters for the system, we were able to only activate the northwest area without activating the rest of the county," O'Konek said. "We now try and activate the sirens for people really under threat, but we tend to activate more sirens than needed.
"The community here is lucky to have the siren system we have. This is as close to perfect as we can come," O'Konek said.
Comments: (319) 398-8255; gage.miskimen@thegazette.com
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