Things to Know When the Sirens Blow

Orange City has seven tornado sirens placed throughout the community to provide adequate coverage to warn residents of impending weather. The sirens are considered outdoor warning sirens, and are intended to warn those who are outside at the time of severe weather. They are not intended to warn people inside their homes and businesses.

Tornado sirens are controlled by the communications/dispatch personnel at the Sioux County Emergency Management Agency (EMA). When bad weather arises, they monitor information from the National Weather Service and trained weather spotters.

Personnel from the EMA trigger the sirens when:

• A tornado warning has been issued for Orange City.
• Or, a funnel cloud has been identified by the trained weather spotters.

Because the sirens have built-in timers to save battery life and wear on the siren, they will turn off after a few minutes, requiring the EMA personnel to trigger them again if the threat is still active.