Iowa's oldest newspaper Thursday, March 30, 2000

Local News: 3/30/2000

Disaster drill glitches a concern

By Kameron Murphy The Hawk Eye

 Sirens fail: Courthouse, SCC quiet during statewide severe weather test.

County officials Wednesday expressed concerns for public safety after a statewide tornado drill wasn't carried out at the Des Moines County Courthouse.

The drill, which began about 10 a.m., was initiated by the National Weather Service and included activation of outdoor warning sirens, the airing of warning messages over local cable channels, radio stations and indoor weather warning systems.

One of Burlington's eight outdoor warning sirens was supposed to signal workers to go to a basement hallway, but the sirens couldn't be heard in the Courthouse, said Gina Hardin, Des Moines County emergency management coordinator.

"Procedurally in the Courthouse, things just didn't go well," Hardin said. "I was the only one there (in the basement.)"

Hardin, who had a weather radio to alert her of the drill, said she couldn't hear the sirens until she opened a door.

One siren at Southeastern Community College failed altogether to sound, Hardin said.

Complicating matters is that no single person is in charge of carrying out an emergency plan at the Courthouse, Hardin said.

Instead, department heads are responsible for their individual departments, she said.

"Each department is its own little world," Hardin said. "It just makes it easier if one person is in charge to coordinate the whole building."

Employees had received a faxed notice before the drill and were waiting to carry it out, said Trial Court Supervisor Tamarra Washington, who works in the district court office on the third floor.

However, when no one heard the sirens, the drill wasn't carried out, Washington said.

"We felt as though we weren't notified," she said. "If it had been a regular working day and there had been a tornado, we would've had no prior warning."

Hardin said the outdoor siren closest to the Courthouse is on top of City Hall, where City Manager Bruce Slagle and roughly 40 others carried out the drill without incident.

County Supervisor Tim Hoschek, who also was in the Courthouse and didn't hear the siren, said a breakdown in communication was partially to blame for the drill's failure.

Some staff members were waiting for a call from the sheriff's department to begin the drill, Hoschek said.

"We all stopped and wondered if the phone call would be made," he said.

In cases of severe weather, the sheriff's office normally calls as many places as possible -- including the courthouse, said Sheriff Joel Behne.

That didn't happen Wednesday because the drill was previously scheduled, Behne said.

Regardless of the cause, Hoschek said the system has to be improved.

"I'm glad it was a drill," he said. "We're just going to have to do a better job. I am upset, but there's nothing we can do now except learn from this."

While many people didn't hear sirens downtown, one siren at Southeastern Community College failed altogether to sound.

After Wednesday's drill, the issue of replacing outdoor sirens will again come to the forefront, Hardin said.

Several methods are being considered to replace the decades-old outdoor sirens, which could be taken out of service in April. Because of the sirens' age, US West can no longer get replacement parts.

One possibility is activitating the sirens by radio control, rather than the current manner of phone activation.

Another option is a reverse 911 system, in which authorities would call all the residents in a specific area.

Hardin, however, favors the use of weather radios that pick up warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Hardin said she would like to see the radios placed in schools, offices, public places like the courthouse, and also in homes.

They cost between $20 and $70 and, unlike TV, radio or cable broadcasts, will automatically turn on when a warning is issued.

A recently installed radio transmitter on Beaverdale Road has made receiving the warnings possible.

If it had been a tornado rather a drill Wednesday, a weather radio would've easily paid for itself, Hardin said.

"I hope it doesn't take a disaster to get people to realize the value of this system."

A spot check with area schools found that the drills were performed without incident, with students being shuttled into interior rooms and hallways.

Because of activities involved in the hospital's move to West Burlington, Burlington Medical Center and the Klein Unit did not participate in Wednesday's drill.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln300317.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 31, 2000