Tornado siren false alarm leads to protocol changes

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - When tornado sirens echoed through the streets of Jonesboro Saturday night, many attending festivals and other community events felt panic and confusion.

Years ago, the sirens were to be sounded once a Tornado Warning was issued for the whole county. This protocol has since been tossed out but is now being blamed for the false alarm on Saturday night.

“By mistake, we alerted the alarm and the mistake being is that it was an old protocol,” said Bill Campbell, director of communications for the city of Jonesboro.

New protocols will require Jonesboro to be in the path of a tornado-warned storm, and approval from a leader will be needed before activating the sirens.

“A shift supervisor always signs off before a tornado or weather warning is enacted,” said Campbell.

E911 is just like any industry and is seeing shortages, this leads to high turnover rates and a lack of training.

“Just to make sure everyone is 100 percent trained on when to fire the alarm and how to do it and so forth,” said Campbell.

Pushing a button to sound the sirens is a lot of pressure and taking some of that off the shoulders of one person is one of the first changes officials are looking to make.

There are many protocols in place to protect residents, and sounding the sirens at the right time is vital to saving lives.

“It was a mistake, but it was a mistake of someone trying to do the right thing,” said Campbell.

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