NILES Siren system for disasters to be increased, revamped

Installation and upgrading should take about three weeks.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- The installation of three sirens and improvements to four others will bring the city's disaster alert system into the 21st century, a city official said.
Tom Telego, disaster coordinator for Niles, said work on revamping the siren system could begin as early as next week, when the new sirens are expected to arrive.
"They are on the truck and ready for delivery," he said.
The revamping will include moving sirens and installing new ones, as well as upgrading the old sirens to operate primarily on electricity instead of batteries.
Telego said all the sirens will still be equipped with backup batteries.
Council agreed earlier this year to buy sirens from Federal Signal in University Park, Ill. Telego said about $96,000 was budgeted to cover the purchase, installation and upgrade.
Central computer
The new system will be more advanced, in that each siren will be able to send information back to a central computer.
Workers could run tests on the system every day.
"It's a really definitive system," Telego said. "It really brings us into the 21st century."
Once the new sirens arrive, workers will move some sirens and install the new ones to make sure all areas of the city will be covered, Telego said.
The process will take about three weeks.
Tests will also be run -- blasts that will last about 30 seconds to one minute -- to make sure everything is in order, though a testing schedule has not been set yet.
Niles follows Trumbull County 911's testing schedule, blasting the sirens for three minutes beginning at noon the first Saturday of each month.
slshaulis@vindy.com