What's Up With The Sirens?

It’s become so commonplace, residents of South Tampa, Hyde Park, Davis Islands and Channelside rarely notice it anymore.

Every day at noon, sirens blare, alerting residents that the Port of Tampa's emergency management system is being tested.

“People in South Tampa laugh about the horn blowing,” said Hillsborough County commissioner and South Tampa resident Sandra Murman. “We don’t really pay attention to it anymore.”

But, what if there was a real emergency? Would residents heed the sirens?

That’s the question Murman posed to fellow county commissioners during the regular board meeting Wednesday, Aug. 9.

“Is this it, or are there other means of notifying residents?” she asked. “We’ve recently had an emergency at the port with the CSX train derailment and ethanol spill (July 25). When the horn sounds, it’s serious.”

Commissioner Victor Crist said he didn’t realize emergency officials were still using sirens to notify residents of an emergency.

“I’m shocked to learn they’re still using air raid sirens. This is incredible. A person under the age of 40 won’t even know what they are and what they mean,” said Crist. “We have contemporary methods of communication that should be tapped into.”

Murman agreed.

“The horn-blowing thing just doesn’t make it anymore.”

Preston Cook, director of emergency management for the county, assured commissioners that the sirens aren’t the only means of alerting residents of an emergency.

“We use multiple notification systems including social media,” he said. “And the port is in the process of upgrading its current system so it can give specific information to residents about actions to take.”

The Port of Tampa stores millions of gallons of hazardous materials, including gasoline, jet fuel, sulfuric acid and anhydrous ammonia, a deadly gas that can burn a person’s skin and eyes and affect the lungs.

So the Port of Tampa Ammonia Siren Notification System was put into place in the mid -1990s to sound an alarm in the event of a spill or leak. Emergency sirens at four fire stations will blast a warning to the tens of thousands of people who work and live in downtown Tampa, South Tampa, Davis Islands, Harbour Island and Palmetto Beach.

However, the sirens have to be tested to assure they are working properly, apparently on a daily basis, bemoaned Murman.

“It’s supposed to be a message to residents that they should stay inside their homes,” said Murman. “But nobody knows that.”

She asked Cook to provide the commission with an update on what other emergency notifications are used in the event of a hazardous materials spill. 

Crist also asked Cook to check with the school district to see if school children are being taught the meaning of the sirens and what to do if they are sounded.