Fond du Lac County Emergency Management is working to fix problems with the outdoor tornado warning sirens. On Wednesday, July 28th when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for a large portion of Fond du Lac County, the software used by Fond du Lac County to activate the sirens did not work as intended. The City of Fond du Lac utilizes the same software the County uses and the sirens in the City did not activate either. Emergency Management director Bobbie Hicken says due to this and until the software will work as prescribed, sirens activated by Fond du Lac County, including those in the City of Fond du Lac, will be activated manually for tornado warnings issued anywhere in Fond du Lac County. Hicken says this means that
the outdoor warning sirens will sound in all areas of the county, even if the tornado warning is issued for a small section of the county. “It is very important for people to receive notification of all severe weather,” Hicken said. “Everyone is strongly encouraged to have multiple ways to receive weather alerts and should not rely on one notification process. NOAA weather radios, phone apps, television and radio media are just some of the ways to receive weather notifications.” Hicken adds that outdoor warning sirens are not intended to be heard inside homes and buildings and do not cover all areas of the county. For these reasons, they should not be relied upon as a primary source of information.
