FOWLER, Mich. (WLNS) – When severe weather warnings are issued, many communities depend on tornado sirens, but one city in mid-Michigan heard something else: news that their siren would not be working.
Though the timing was unfortunate as tornadoes were possible on Wednesday, the Fowler Fire Chief was transparent about the sirens being down.
He believes the problem may be fixed, but it is not certain right now.
The chief says tornado alarms are tested by Clinton County every first Saturday of the month at noon, and even though it was announced at 7:30 this morning that the sirens would be down, the department and Clinton County knew over the weekend that this could be the case.
The chief confirmed that something like this has never happened, but wants to assure everyone there is no need for concern.
“We’re not sure really what happened. Central dispatch did a test on it Saturday, an all-area county test and we found out it was inoperable. We worked through some details with West Shore Services, and found out we had some blown fuses. We’ve replaced them since and hopefully, we have it fixed,” said Fowler Fire Chief Vern Feldpausch.
“If not, we’ll get the company back out here and they’ll look it over, and make the necessary repairs.”
It’s not clear if those blown fuses were the issue, but the chief says they could not test out the sirens today due to the weather. Instead, they will test them out Thursday morning.
The chief wants everyone in the area to check their phones to stay informed on the latest weather conditions.
Of course, you can always subscribe to 6 News weather alerts, check out our forecast and radar, and stay tuned to channel 6 for the latest weather updates.
