WISH-TV/Hamilton County Reporter

It’s a sound we’re all familiar hearing: Outdoor warning sirens alerting us to severe weather.

It’s something we take for granted, assuming there’s a universal policy in place to keep us safe. But there are some areas in central Indiana where sirens will be sounded when there is no threat at all.

Outdoor warning sirens are for public safety, alerting those outside to get inside. They’re usually placed in highly populated areas near a park or sports complex.

“I think they still serve a purpose today,” said Hamilton County EMA Director Shane Booker.

Booker

Here in Hamilton County, while in storm operations mode, each of these stations serves a purpose, from monitoring storm spotters, watching the radar to sounding the sirens.

“We will sound the sirens in the event of a tornado warning that the NWS [National Weather Service] polygon is for a particular portion of the county and we will sound sirens where the siren sound covers that polygon,” Booker said.

While most counties in central Indiana follow the same protocol, there is no statewide policy and it’s up to local municipalities on when they sound sirens.

Monroe County, for example, has the capability to sound each siren separately but its policy is all or none. For example, when a tornado warning is issued for Stinesville in the northern part of the county, sirens in Harrodsburg some 20 miles away would be active, even though there is no severe weather threat there.

“We saw from early on that doesn’t work for us,” said Hamilton County EMA Deputy Director Carl Erickson. “We don’t want people to get content and see it’s sunny outside. So from early on we want the ability to set the sirens off we want to set off.”

Erickson

And while sometimes these sirens can be heard from inside your home, that’s not their main purpose. Outdoor warning sirens are for those who are outdoors and really shouldn’t be your only method for getting severe weather information. Weather radios will go off if there’s a warning in your area, or you can also download the Storm Track 8 app to get warnings, too.

For Erickson, it’s more than just pushing a button on a computer screen. He’s been sounding sirens for more than a decade and considers it a rewarding part of his job.

“It’s a really cool thing to do, to let the public know something bad is going to happen and knowing that this agency had a key role in … that is huge for me,” Erickson said.