Wednesday, November 10, 1999
Kenton to install new storm sirens
Regional system vandal-proof
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDEPENDENCE — By spring, Kenton County officials hope to have virtually all of the county's residents within earshot of a regional storm warning system.
The new state-of-the-art system also will be protected against vandals, such as the culprits who illegally triggered Boone and Kenton County sirens twice this fall.
“The new system will be digital, so they will not be able to reproduce the tones,” said Bary Lusby, Kenton County's emergency management director.
At its meeting Tuesday, Kenton Fiscal Court authorized purchase and installation of 28 storm warning sirens. When combined with the existing 18 sirens, they will cover 95 percent of the county, Mr. Lusby said.
“The sirens will be up and running by the spring storm season, barring any unforeseen circumstances,” Mr. Lusby said.
Rather than alerting the entire county when there's severe weather in one area, the new sirens can be activated only where the threat exists, Mr. Lusby said.
Kenton County fire chiefs have sought a better storm warning system for more than 15 years.
Some fire chiefs had worried that residents failed to take the countywide activation seriously, because the weather could vary greatly from one end of the county to the other.
“It's a completely new system that allows us to set off sirens individually or by zones,” Mr. Lusby said. He added the new technology also will enable county officials to regularly test individual sirens, without actually setting them off.
Mr. Lusby said that Federal Signal's proposal is the most cost-effective for Kenton County. Its total cost is $469,195, or about half of the $800,000 originally budgeted for the project.
The project's cost includes a 15 percent contingency of $61,199 to cover the purchase of any additional sirens, should they be needed, or any other unexpected costs, Mr. Lusby said.
The state is contributing $19,224 toward the sirens. A Federal Emergency Management Agency grant of $120,150 will pay for installation of the new sirens and for activation equipment.
Kenton County cities also have agreed to cover 25 percent of the storm warning system, or $82,455.
“I'm really pleased to see this come before the court,” said Kenton County Commissioner Dan Humpert. “And I'm very pleased that the cities are putting a lot of money into it.”
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