With severe storms and tornadoes that hit our area Monday night, there has been some social media chatter about why tornado sirens were activated for the City of Chillicothe when the storm was located in only northern Ross County and farther north.
Mayor Luke Feeney says there are some limitations to the sirens in Ross County, and that emergency officials would rather be "better safe than sorry."
Ross County EMA Director Paul Minney detailed to iHeart Media News that "we are not set up the same way as Franklin County, in zones, because of the age of our sirens."
"We are adding the siren replacement to be able to do zones in a hazard mitigation plan that we’re working on currently, and hopefully will get some financing for those."
Minney says such a system would cost $27,000 per siren, which is not financially viable at this time.
Mayor Feeney and EMA Director Minney also confirmed that Chillicothe City Council and the Ross County Commissioners have agreed to fund a system that will create emergency text alerts to Ross Countians through their cell phones.
Minney said, "Yes, that’s been in the works for a while. I’m currently working with the new company, Inspiron Logistics, trying to get everything in order."