Stutsman County to test tornado warning sirens Wednesday

When tornado sirens sound across Stutsman County on Wednesday, April 29, residents should treat it as a readiness check, not the only line of warning before severe weather season begins.

The county’s scheduled test falls during North Dakota Severe Summer Weather Awareness Week, which runs April 27 through May 1. National Weather Service officials in Bismarck have set the statewide tornado drill for Wednesday and warned residents not to depend on the siren alone. Outdoor warning sirens are meant to alert people who are outside, they may not be heard indoors, and severe weather can disrupt them.

If the sirens sound during the test, the public should understand it as a drill. If they sound during an actual tornado warning, the response should be immediate: move indoors, get to the lowest level of a sturdy building if possible, and stay away from windows until the danger passes. In a county as spread out as Stutsman, backup alerts matter just as much as the siren network.

That is especially true in rural parts of the county. Stutsman County spans 2,298 square miles and has 21,593 residents, making it the second-largest county in North Dakota. Its size means a siren heard in Jamestown will not necessarily reach every farmstead, highway stop or outlying home. Weather radios, wireless phone alerts and other redundant warning methods are a practical safeguard when storms develop quickly.

Stutsman County’s emergency guide says routine testing of outdoor warning sirens happens in most county communities on the first Wednesday of the month. The county’s Communications Center/9-1-1 is located in the Stutsman County Law Enforcement Center in Jamestown, where emergency response operations are based for the county seat that has served Stutsman County since it was organized in 1873.

Countywide siren exercises in the past have included Jamestown, Buchanan, Cleveland, Medina and Streeter, with officials using the drills to verify internal notification procedures and check whether the siren system is ready for summer weather. This week’s test is meant to do the same, before the first round of spring and summer storms puts the warning system to the real test.