Editor’s Note: The University Star incorrectly stated residents can sign up for Everbridge IPAWS in the print edition of this article on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. No account is needed to get IPAWS alerts; residents will get the alerts as long as they haven’t turned those off in settings.
Originally installed in 2011, the Outdoor Warning Sirens are fully operational in San Marcos again as of Aug. 1.
According to Rob Fitch, emergency management coordinator for San Marcos, the city spent the last three years repairing the 14 nonfunctional sirens across the city, as well as installing upgrades.
“What the towers are for is to alert people of any alert such as extreme weather, tornado, wildfire or an event that happened in the city [where] people need to seek shelter or to listen up to an emergency broadcast,” Fitch said.
According to Fitch, the Outdoor Warning Sirens were operational and installed in 2011 but some towers went offline over time.
Fitch said three years ago, Mayor Jane Hughson and San Marcos City Council decided to upgrade and repair the towers.
“The great thing about the new system, as opposed to the old system, is that we can go ahead and expand this system so we can put more towers up if we want,” Fitch said. “We can also encourage cities around us to hook up to the same system.”
Testing for the alert towers began at 11 a.m. on Aug. 1. According to the city’s website, the towers will sound their alarms at noon on the first Saturday of each month to ensure functionality.
Fitch said the upgrades included repairing damaged solar panels, replacing out-of-date batteries and adding new solar panels, radios and other systems.
The sirens originally could only trigger through a police dispatch, Fitch said. Now, it can also be activated through the fire department, the emergency management office or by the National Weather Service automatically.
Tricia Brite, a resident who has been living in San Marcos for 28 years, said she only ever heard the sirens go off once about six or seven years ago during a testing period.
“I thought that maybe [the sirens] would have gone off a few months ago, back in May when we had a really bad storm,” Brite said. “I thought we were going to have a tornado. [I told my son] ‘look, get ready to grab the dogs and jump into my closet’.”
During the June 4 San Marcos City Council Work Session Councilmember Mark Gleason said several residents he talked to about the May 9 storm felt unprepared and thought their phone’s weather alert was just an Amber Alert.
“I also want [Emergency Management] to talk about [the sirens] being used for flood events,” Gleason said. “There are a lot of places in the country that use those towers for multiple sounds, and I think [the sirens are going to be] set up now for multiple tones and I think they should be done for that.”
San Marcos will use the upgraded sirens for emergencies such as flash floods, wildfires and public safety events. Different alert sounds will be used depending on the type of emergency to notify residents effectively.
“You don’t have to memorize [the different alert sounds], the key is if you hear that siren go off, tune in, find out what’s going on and take shelter if you need to,” Fitch said.
According to Fitch, residents can sign up for Warn Central Texas which allows the city to contact residents’ phones for alerts as the main goal for the sirens is to notify residents that something is happening so they can figure out what’s going on. Residents also receive Everbridge IPAWs alerts, accompanied by an attention signal and vibration.
“[The sirens] are operational right now,” Fitch said. “We want to make sure everybody understands that because if they go off right now, something is happening. It’s not a test.”
