Weather permitting, a citywide test of the City of Hot Springs’ entire emergency weather siren network will be held at noon on Wednesday, June 7.
The test will be launched from the Hot Springs Fire Department Emergency Operations Center. The public will hear an air horn sounded four times; a voice message announcing this is only a test; a wail lasting for one minute; a voice message again announcing this is only a test; followed by another wail. This cycle may be repeated twice. To conclude the test, an “All clear, emergency’s over” verbal message will sound. The entire test will last approximately three to seven minutes.
The wail sound is the actual sound that the public will hear in the case of an emergency.
The city’s current eleven siren locations include Hill Wheatley Plaza, Arlington Hotel & Spa, Ozark Street, Weyerhaeuser, Holly Street, Linwood Street, Crescent Street, Water Street, Bell Alley, Molly Springs and Lakeshore Road. The sound radius of each siren varies, depending on the number of siren heads attached. The height of each siren location as well as wind direction and velocity can have an effect on range as well. Each siren is strategically placed to overlap their designed sound radii.
In an actual weather emergency, the sirens are automatically activated when an area within the National Weather Service polygon is under a severe weather warning such as tornado warning, flash flood warning and severe thunderstorm warning. The city can also manually activate the sirens for the following weather alerts: Chemical Accident, Emergency Evacuation, Flash Flood, Emergency Announcement and Hazardous Material.