City Of Broken Arrow To Upgrade Tornado Sirens

The City of Broken Arrow is preparing for the official start of severe weather season by upgrading the city’s tornado sirens. City leaders say the current sirens work, but they want to make them more effective to ensure everyone in the city can hear the sirens at the same time.

Broken Arrow Emergency Management says the city recently approved the purchase of new sirens. It's being paid for by a 2018 bond package.

Currently, Broken Arrow has sirens that spin when activated. The sound is loudest when the siren is pointed in your direction. Emergency Management Director Jamie Ott says the city wants to replace them with round sirens like those in Tulsa. Leaders say round sirens distribute the loudest sound possible in all directions at once, which they say makes them much more effective as a warning.

“We try to stage our sirens in locations that if one was to potentially fail there would be another one close to the area that someone on the outside would be able to hear it from another location,” Ott said.

They say these sirens can be heard at least a mile away, if not further.

“That’s one less component than could freeze up and break down to keep that one horn from circling around and not providing the optimal coverage we need,” Ott said.

Right now, the City of Broken Arrow is taking bids on the project and once an offer is accepted the city can move forward with installing the sirens.