Storm Sirens Coming to Crockett

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The city of Crockett announced a new project coming to the city in their recent budget meeting regarding outdoor sirens to warn residents of pending storms and other disasters. The Messenger was able to catch up with Crockett City Administrator John Angerstein and Butch Calvert who kindly explained the program.

In 2022, the city applied for a $500,000 grant through FEMA’s (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Hazard Mitigation Program, and earlier this year was approved for funding. The project is valued at $538,000 and requires a 10% match from the city.

The project involves installing six outdoor storm warning sirens throughout town, strategically placed based on different elevations to ensure they can be heard inside homes and vehicles. The system will be connected to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), with the capability to detect tornado touchdowns within a specified distance of Crockett, automatically activating the sirens. It can also be activated by our emergency management system in the event of local disasters, such as a chemical emergency.

This system will work alongside programs like radio and TV broadcasts, providing more information to the public once the sirens are activated.

“The project has been approved and we are now finalizing the engineering,” Angerstein explained. “The next step is to go to bid for purchasing the sirens and hiring a vendor to install them. We expect the project to be completed within the next six months.”

While major tornadoes are rare, with the experience of only a few years ago, where property and lives were torn up from an unexpected storm, Crockett residents will soon have an early-warning system which one hopes to never hear, but will no doubt saves lives the next time the city faces such an emergency. 

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]