ROCKWELL CITY — The Calhoun County Emergency Management Commission announced Monday that the county is revising its outdoor warning siren policy.

According to Calhoun County Emergency Management Coordinator Richard Hall, the changes were made following feedback from Calhoun County residents and will focus on the exact area under threat using real-time data from the National Weather Service.

“Calhoun County used to do the four quadrant approach for siren activation,” said Hall, who has been in the role since May. “The county was divided into four different quadrants and Rockwell City was in all four of those quadrants. That meant that Rockwell City sirens would go off for a storm in any part of the county, and that’s a lot of activations. For example, the storms that we had last week, we had eight activations of the sirens in just one hour.”

Hall said that the Calhoun County Emergency Management Commission has seen a decline in resident readiness and preparation because of the number of times the sirens were activated.

“We were seeing that more residents were complacent when they’d hear the sirens go off,” said Hall. “And that’s not our goal, so we all jumped in and feel that this is the best way to go.”

According to Hall, under the updated policy, all tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service will trigger sirens if the warning polygon includes a siren’s coverage area. Destructive severe thunderstorm warnings will also trigger sirens if they meet or exceed winds of 80 miles per hour or greater or have hail that is baseball size or larger.

In addition to the automated activations, authorized personnel, including Hall, local fire departments, law enforcement, and emergency medical personnel, can also manually activate sirens in urgent situations.

“Outdoor warning sirens are designed to alert people who are outside,” said Hall. “They are not intended to be heard indoors, especially in well-insulated homes or during heavy rain and wind. All residents are strongly encouraged to have multiple ways to receive warnings, including a weather radio, wireless emergency alerts on cell phones, and trusted local media sources.”

Hall also encouraged residents to sign up for Calhoun County Alerts which include a variety of notifications from storm warnings to water main breaks. To sign up, go to Smart911.com, create an account, and populate your community and chosen alerts.