Sirens part of tornado warning system

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

When it comes to tornado sirens, Van Wert County is well equipped.

According to Van Wert County EMA Director Rick McCoy, there are five tornado sirens within the Van Wert city limits, four in Delphos and every village in the county has one as well — including smaller villages and areas such as Elgin and Dixon. 

The sirens are tested at 10 a.m. each Monday, but haven’t been activated for emergency purposes for more than two years. That’s because the last tornado warning in the county was February 2023 in the Convoy area.

“For many years prior to that, I’ve had to set them off many times,” McCoy said. “They’re there for that sighting of a tornado — if a warning is issued by the National Weather Service — because radar is showing it could be developing, or if we have a derecho coming in like we had in 2012. If we have 90-mile-per-hour winds coming in, I’m sounding the sirens because it’s doing the same damage as a tornado.”

In addition to tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service, the longtime EMA director said he’ll activate sirens if he receives a report of a tornado on the ground from one of the county’s many trained spotters.

McCoy said he’s heard questions about why sirens weren’t activated during the late night hours of April 2 when two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Van Wert County — one just outside Van Wert and the other near Glenmore. The twister near Van Wert was rain wrapped, the EMA director noted, and wasn’t picked up by radar, while the Glenmore tornado was on the ground for just two minutes. McCoy also explained that tornado sirens are just one way to alert the public to an oncoming twister. 

“The sirens are only for people who are outside; at 11 o’clock at night with rain and lightning coming in, people are probably not outside doing anything,” McCoy noted. “Even though we’d like everyone to hear them, the sirens are only for people who are outside.

“People need to use other technology that’s in place (when inside),” he added. “First off, use common sense — if you’re in your car, flip the radio on or, if you have an app on your phone, watch for the alerts.

McCoy said the county EMA uses Nixle and people can sign up for it and get weather alerts directly from the local office.

“People can get on the EMA Facebook page and get the warnings there,” he added. “If they have scanners, I’m setting those off so they can hear the warnings there, and I also put it on the fire frequency and I put it on the amateur radio band, so there’s lots of ways to get information, not just the sirens.

McCoy concluded by noting that, knowing the county has seen 41 recorded tornadoes since 1950, people just need to pay particular attention, be ready and ready to move, if it’s necessary.