Bismarck officials wail about problems with warning sirens

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Bismarck emergency management officials are sounding the alarm to get the city’s outdoor warning sirens working.

City Emergency Manager Gary Stocket said five systemwide failures have occurred since January 2019, including tests conducted last year in January, August, September and November and the most recent test conducted in late May,

Stockert said the city has experienced delays with Dakota Communications, the local vendor responsible for repairs, and are looking to bypass it by purchasing a new system, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

“The siren itself is fine. Once in a while, one or two might need to be maintained a little bit. But when you have systemwide failures … what that tells us is it’s the activation system,” Stockert said.

Mark Nelson, spokesman for Dakota Communications, questions whether the system is to blame for the problems.

“It hasn’t been having any major system problems, besides this last one,” Nelson said. “Anything before that was like, either operator error or something else. I wasn’t aware of anything more than that.”

Bismarck has 24 sirens to warn residents as severe weather approaches, such as a tornado. The sirens have a radius of 1 mile.