Siren Malfunction Likely Related to Recently Demolished Building

Three warning sirens in Port Washington remain turned off as Port Washington Police Department personnel and AT&T officials work to resolve a throughout Sunday night into Monday morning.

Port Washington Police Captain Michael Keller said the problem is in the phone lines, and AT&T employees suspect it is related to potential damage to phone lines during the demolition of an Ozaukee County highway building on Oakland Avenue.

"I don’t have any definite confirmation (from AT&T)," he said,"(but,) it was obviously an equipment malfunction."

In the meantime, Port Washington residents should remain free of sleep interuptions from the sirens.

"The three that went off inadvertently are still powered down," he said. "If we powered them up, they’d still be wailing away."

There are a total of four warning sirens in Port Washington, he said.

Though the alarms that went off sporadically from roughly 11 p.m. until 4 a.m. , several slept right through the noise — raising concern among residents. Keller said this worry is something that isn't really warranted.

"It’s an outdoor warning system … people have this belief that they should be able to hear it everywhere throughout the city and their homes," Keller said. But, he said, it wasn't designed for that — it was designed for people partaking in outdoor activities.

"Those people in their homes, you’ve gotta believe they’ve got better warning through ... media and technology," he said. "There’s no way you can guarantee that something is going to be heard in every building.

"I think, over time, people have come to believe that that’s what it was meant for, and it really wasn’t."