Tornado sirens: Stratford looks for other options as Woolwich expands program

A tornado is seen near Arthur, Ont. on Wednesday, August 7, 2013 in this photo provided by Travis Farncombe.

When a deadly tornado hit Goderich in 2011, the town had 12 minutes of warning – but the only way for residents to learn of that warning was through monitoring media outlets or certain parts of the internet.

One of the recommendations coming out of the inquest into the tornado was for warning sirens to be installed in more Ontario municipalities.

The issue was recently examined in Stratford, where councillors decided to hold off on any action around sirens until they could get a clearer picture of alternative ways to warn residents about approaching tornadoes.

“We need something that’s going to be fast and efficient, because there’s very little warning with these,” city CAO Ron Shaw tells CTV News.

“The events of Goderich certainly caught our attention and really highlighted the need for us to take a look at some ways that we can make sure both the citizens and visitors to the city are protected as much as possible.”

A city report says a tornado siren would have sounded 12 times over the past five years, even though the city itself was not actually hit by any of those tornadoes.

Additionally, there are questions over whether visitors would understand what the sirens mean and whether regular tests would lead to residents ignoring the sirens.

Shaw says the city already communicates tornado warnings through email and social media, and might be able to find an electronic system cheaper and more effective than sirens.

“There are definitely some advantages to sirens, but it’s still not the perfect system. What we want to do now is look at all the options,” he says.

But while Stratford looks for those alternative methods, a siren warning program is being expanded 50 kilometres away in Woolwich Township.

The township has maintained three emergency sirens in Elmira since the 1990s, and plans to have sirens in St. Jacobs and Breslau activated by the end of the month.

“They’re used for inclement weather – tornadoes, that type of thing – and also any chemical leaks within different industries we have in town, traffic accidents or rail accidents,” says deputy fire chief Dale Martin.

Breslau resident Mary Anne Szuck says she’s glad to hear the program is being expanded to her community.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she says.

“Hopefully we never have to use it.”

When the siren sounds, residents are expected to go indoors and wait for an automated phone call with more information.

The phone system covers all of Woolwich, even areas that aren’t able to hear the sirens – and will include a portion of Kitchener that will be within the Breslau siren’s range once that one is up and running.

“If there’s a hazard right away, you will get a message within minutes of the siren,” says Martin.

The system was last used in April, when a massive ice storm hammered the region.

The phone system was activated in September, when Emergency Management Ontario mistakenly claimed a tornado warning was in effect for Waterloo Region, even though Environment Canada had not issued such a warning.