Warsaw Fire Chief Mike Brubaker Monday night addressed the reasoning behind tornado sirens being set off twice in Warsaw Sunday. Central Dispatch sounded tornado sirens in Warsaw around 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday. A tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service Sunday for Kosciusko County at 3:06 p.m. and remained in effect until 4 p.m. A tornado watch was issued for Kosciusko County at 11:42 a.m. and went into effect until 8 p.m. The city moved the tornado siren at the former city hall on Market Street to Fire Station 1 at 109 E. Main St. in October. The siren had not been tested until Sunday. Brubaker said he advised dispatch to sound the siren Sunday morning to make sure it was operating correctly. However, sirens at Zimmer and Fire Station 2 at 2204 E. Center Street also sounded at that time. “Sunday morning we knew storms were coming in and my hopes were to trip the one siren, not the whole system. There was miscommunication and all the sirens were tripped,” Brubaker said. “It was bad timing. I apologize that we confused residents, but I won’t apologize for testing a piece of safety equipment and then turning around and needing it in the afternoon like we did and we then knew it worked,” he continued. All three of the tornado sirens were sounded due to the tornado warning later in the afternoon. Brubaker said the sirens are generally tested once in the spring and once in the fall. “I’d much rather err on the side of safety and know that they are functioning to have residents warned if they are needed. We knew bad weather was coming and that’s why I had the siren tested,” he said.
