Cape considers partnership with university on warning system

The piercing wail of warning sirens may alert residents to dangers across the skies of Cape Girardeau in the near future.

The city council is exploring the idea of installing a network of sirens for severe weather and disasters. But within the heart of Cape Girardeau, the building blocks for such a network already exist on a smaller scale.

Partnering with Southeast Missouri State University may be the least expensive and most efficient way for the city to construct a siren system, said Heather Brooks, assistant to the city manager.

Brooks made a short presentation on the idea at the council's July 21 meeting.

Mayor Jay Knudtson asked Brooks in June to research the topic and present the council with options, she said.

The siren system at Southeast has been in place about 18 months, said Doug Richards, director of the university's Department of Public Safety. Before the installation, the school spent another 18 months studying the need for it and examining the technology available.

The council's motivation to look into a siren system was the tornado that struck Jackson May 6, causing extensive property damage, Brooks said. No one was injured or killed in the storm.

"With the Jackson tornado, I think people became even more aware that we don't have sirens," she said.

However, the council doesn't consider a siren system to be a foolproof plan to preventing disaster, Brooks said. Terrain, wind and background noise can make a siren go unnoticed by people who are indoors.

"If we do have sirens, that'd depend on funding and it would be in conjunction with an education program," she said.

The benefits of a partnership with Southeast are obvious, Brooks said. The city would spend less money enhancing an existing system than creating a new one. And one unified system would be less confusing for residents and provide more consistent procedures for emergency personnel.

The university is willing to cooperate, Richards said.

"We'd be happy to sit down with them and see if our systems could be interfaced at a cost reduction to the city," Richards said. "Why buy another control panel when we already have two?"

Today, seven sirens sit atop tall poles across the campus. An additional siren will likely be added at the River Campus, Richards said. In addition to the wailing sound of the siren, voice messages can be read aloud over the speakers, enabling DPS to alert people to various kinds of emergencies.

Since its installation, the system has been activated three times in severe weather, including for the May 6 tornado warning, said DPS dispatcher Carla Graham.

Many more sirens can be added to the system. Two identical control panels can activate the sirens at the DPS office and at an incident command center in the basement of Dempster Hall.

Funding obstacle

The city's only obstacle remains to be where to find funding, Brooks said. Southeast spent more than $145,000 on its siren program. To cover Cape Girardeau with a grid of sirens could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more. That's why she's reviewing grant possibilities from agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Department of Homeland Security.

"Any grant we get is going to require some sort of match on our part," she said. "We'll have to identify somewhere in the budget for that match money."

For now, the effort is in the information-gathering stage.

"As of now, the council has said, 'Go look and see if there's any opportunities for us,'" she said. "But they haven't obligated the city to anything."

A previous effort was made to look into a citywide siren system more than five years ago, Brooks said. An engineering study recommended that at least 15 sirens would be needed, but technology advances since then may reduce the number, she said.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160