Boone Co. sirens could be divided into three zones
On Thursday tornado sirens could be heard across Boone County.
However, the only tornado warning was in the southern part of Boone County.
Emergency officials told ABC 17 News that right now if there is a tornado warning anywhere in Boone County, the entire county will be warned.
This protocol could be changing within the next few months.
“Our preference would be to really make siren activation truly mean something for the people in the area they are in,” said Boone County Fire Chief, Scott Olsen. He is also the director of Emergency Management.
Boone County covers 691 Sq. miles.
A large area to warn people of a tornado that may be more than 40 miles from them.
“We are thinking of changing our approach from an all county warning to specific zones,” says Olsen.
Right now the county is just one zone.
Soon it could be split into three: a north, central and south zone.
Thursday’s warning would have just activated sirens in the south zone.
“People that would be for it would probably be the majority of people because if there is a bad cell in Ashland, and clear skies in the north county we worry about complacency setting in,” said Olsen.
Olsen told ABC 17 News, Boone County could possibly see this change within the next three months.
It first has to go to the Boone County Commissioners. Then Olsen told ABC 17 News there will need to be several meetings with all of the cities in the county before a final decision is made.
