Broken Arrow officials fix storm siren after false alarm causes concern

Emergency management officials in Broken Arrow believe they have resolved an issue with a storm siren that malfunctioned early Sunday, blaring for more than 30 minutes and causing confusion and concern.

The siren, located near County Line Road and New Orleans Street, began sounding in the early hours of the morning despite no severe weather in the area. City crews were eventually forced to cut power to the siren to stop the alarm.

“Immediately, panic struck,” said Erica Nelson, a Broken Arrow resident and survivor of the deadly 2011 Joplin tornado. “It brings up anxiety and lots of stress when it comes to storms. Are we going to be notified in time? Will we have a place to get to in time?”

Nelson said she was home alone when the siren went off and wasn’t aware of any bad weather.

“I just freaked,” she said. “My cellphone wasn’t charged up all the way, so off to the closet I ran with my dog.”

Jamie Ott, director of Emergency Management for the City of Broken Arrow, said crews spent the past several days diagnosing the issue and believe the siren is now fully operational.

“We investigated some of the potential issues with the siren,” Ott said. “We feel like we’ve removed the anomaly that was within the siren. We’ve turned the power back on, we’ve done some tests, and the siren has passed. So as far as we know right now, the siren is functional.”

While the system appears to be back online, Ott emphasized that outdoor warning sirens are not intended to be the public’s primary source of severe weather alerts.

“If you have one or two of these ways to receive watches and warnings — a weather app, local news, or a weather radio — you’re a lot better off,” Ott said. “The outdoor warning sirens should be your last line of notification.”

With more storms forecast this week, Ott said the city is doing its due diligence to ensure siren sound when they are supposed to.

“We take it very seriously that these warning sirens are up and that they’re there to notify the public,” Ott said. “So we try to take all measures that we can to prevent these false activations.”

Hear a siren unexpectedly?

Residents who hear a siren sounding unexpectedly are encouraged to call the Broken Arrow Police Department’s non-emergency line at 918-259-8400.