The City of Pell City will distribute 200 NOAA Weather Radios to its citizens between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on April 7 and April 14.  Citizens are encouraged to apply online to reserve a unit in advance.  Proof of residency is required.

The City of Pell City, through a generous grant from the Coosa Valley Resource Conservation & Development Council, has purchased 200 weather radios to be provided to Pell City residents.  The Pell City Fire Department will handle the distribution of these radios at Fire Station #1, located at 3040 Cogswell Avenue.

Battalion Chief Tim Kurzejeski stated that “each of these radios will be programmed in advance to receive emergency information for St. Clair County and will come with instructions to allow programming for surrounding counties.”  Kurzejeski said that these radios, along with other technologies, provide an essential warning system for citizens.  “It is essential that residents remain weather aware and able to receive notices of impending weather events,” Kurzejeski said, “We encourage all residents to monitor local news and radio stations, utilize smart phone apps, and obtain weather radios in order to maintain their safety.”

A NOAA All-Hazards radio receives broadcasts exclusively from the National Weather Service.  The radio can provide rapid warning, direct from the source, when hazardous weather conditions pose a threat to life and property.  It is also an “all-hazards” warning system, used not only for immediate flood or tornado related events, but also a hazardous materials release or other localized hazards. The radio receivers behave like smoke detectors, silently monitoring, and then alerting people to the initial warning message immediately upon receipt, providing more time to respond to the event.  The radio being distributed is the Midland model WR-120 EZ and will include spare batteries. The batteries provide back-up power in the event of a power outage.

NOAA Weather Radios with an alarm and battery back-up is one of the best ways to protect your family, especially at night when the alarm feature can wake you up during severe weather and give you and your family time to seek appropriate shelter. 

Weather Radios and Smartphone Apps, such as Safe-T-Net App, WBRC First Alert Weather App, FEMA Mobile App, and ABC 33/40 Weather App, are all available free of charge and provide the user with alerts for their area.  While the public has, in the past, relied on outdoor warning sirens, advances in technology have rendered those units largely obsolete. 

Ellen Tanner, retired Director of the St. Clair County EMA stated in an August 2017 article that “at the time they were installed, these sirens represented the most reliable and effective means of warning the public,” however, “due to improvements in weather alert radios and the availability and development of weather alert services, Emergency Management Agencies throughout the country have determined that warning sirens are no longer the most effective or most reliable way to warn the public of disasters.”

The Coosa Valley RC&D provided $4,000 in grant funds for this project, which the City of Pell City matched with $1,000 in funding.  City Manager Brian Muenger stated that this represented a smart investment for the City, “When we were made aware of this opportunity I presented it to the Council and they were immediately in favor of it.  We are always seeking opportunity to leverage our funds effectively, and this is a great opportunity to educate the public and also to provide 200 households with a radio that could help them a great deal.”

Muenger stated that the City is considering retaining some of its outdoor warning sirens, “there are several units that serve areas such as Lakeside Park and shopping areas where there are frequently large groups of people outdoors, in those areas the warning sirens can be easily heard, however in residential areas they are largely ineffective and unlikely to be heard indoors by many.”

James Spann, certified weather meteorologist, has been promoting other means of weather alerting. Spann recently explained, “You might hear a siren on nice days with blue sky and sunshine when they are being tested, but you have no hope in the middle of the night during a raging storm when you are asleep. They have never been designed to warn people inside homes, businesses, schools, churches or any other structure. They reach a limited number of people outside, and that is it. We have to be sure everybody understands this, and move past sirens.” 

Residents may reserve a radio for pickup via online form at http://pell-city.com/radio/ or by visiting Station 1 on the aforementioned pickup days.  Residents will be asked to provide proof of residency at the time of pickup, such a driver’s license showing a City address, or a utility bill. 

The St. Clair County Conservation District is a member of the Coosa Valley RC&D Council, a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization, comprised of eleven counties in east central Alabama.  These counties are:  Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Etowah, Randolph, St Clair, Talladega, and Tallapoosa. The St. Clair Conservation District is committed to conserving St. Clair’s natural resources by connecting those who use and work the land to the education, technical know-how, and resources they need, thereby improving economic opportunities for all citizens within the area.