The Dallas County Emergency Management Agency is encouraging local jurisdictions to join them in a new protocol for utilizing outdoor warning sirens.

Emergency Management Coordinator A.J. Seely says the EMA Commission formed a workgroup to evaluate whether rural Dallas County should modify siren activation criteria to include 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts in addition to tornado warnings. Based on their findings, the Commission is recommending all communities with outdoor warning sirens to include the additional criteria, effective March 2020. Seely says in many cases, 70-miles-per-hour winds are just as damaging, if not moreso, than weeker tornadoes. As such, he points out it’s just as important for people to seek shelter when thunderstorms reach that level.

Seely is hopeful the individual jurisdictions accept the recommendation of the EMA, mostly to give some uniformity throughout the County and erase any confusion for the public. He also emphasizes that the purpose of outdoor warning sirens is to alert those who are outside to seek shelter and gather more information on the current weather situation. As a reminder, whenever severe weather affects the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area, the Severe Weather Action Team will take the air and provide live coverage of the storm.