Cooper County’s outdoor warning system has 1 non-operational siren

COOPER COUNTY, Mo, (KMIZ)

One of Cooper County’s 12 battery-operated outdoor warning sirens was found to not be working properly following a recent test, according the Cooper County Emergency Management Agency.

CCEMA Director Larry Oerly said the siren is located at Harley Park near the water treatment plant in Boonville.

"Everything is working the way its suppose to with the exception of one siren that we found out yesterday was not working during our test yesterday and have put in a work order for it to be repaired," he said. "I don't know what's wrong with it, I just know it didn't activate,"

Oerly said the siren will not be repaired immediately but will be fixed once the company becomes available. The county's sirens were tested three to four times, according to Oerly.

"We sent a alert out over communication alerting system to the citizens advising them and make sure they have their phones or weather radios available to them," Oerly said.

This comes as inclement weather is expected to enter the area on Tuesday night. The county recently installed its new communications system about a month ago Oerly said.

"We now have four radio repeater sites scattered in the county and three emergency communications throughout the county," he said. "We currently have four of seven up and operational and hopefully by the end of this year, and next year we'll have all seven of them up and operational,"

On April 2, 2025, the small town of Pilot Grove was hit by an EF-2 tornado, damaging or destroying 16 homes, 12 commercial buildings and two public buildings. Damage to vehicles, farm equipment and trees was also reported.

During the tornado, the county's Cold-War Era siren failed to activate due to a power outage prompting the order of a new battery-operated outdoor warning siren. The siren was installed outside of Pilot Grove City Hall in May 2025.