Amid Snafu, St. Louis Fire Officials Now Responsible for Alert Sirens
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(TNS)
ST. LOUIS — Mayor Cara Spencer said Monday that outdoor warning sirens were not deployed properly before Friday's tornado due to confusion over who was responsible for activating them in such a situation.
"In those minutes between the warning and the time that we were experiencing a massive weather event, there was a failure, a human failure, a failure in protocol to get the sirens up and running," Spencer said at a news conference late Monday afternoon.
Spencer said under a policy put in place in 2021, "it was not exceptionally clear about whose roles and responsibilities it was to do what."
She said she has now made it clear that the city Fire Department will have that responsibility.
"From this point forward, the Fire Department, with whom I have the utmost confidence, is doing that work moving forward," she said.
Asked by a reporter if it had been unclear previously whether the fire department or the city Emergency Management Agency had the responsibility, she said "under which circumstances, yes, it was not crystal clear."
"A button wasn't pushed and the sirens were not deployed," she said.
Asked if any sirens went off, she responded that she didn't know yet but that it's clear that "the sirens were not deployed in a way...that they should have been."
Spencer called the news conference, held outside a firehouse in north St. Louis, "to address the concerns that myself and St. Louisans (and) people across the region" have had about the city's sirens.
"Let me first and foremost say these concerns are valid, they're real and I share them," she said.
Asked if anyone had been disciplined because of the siren failure, Spencer said "we are still evaluating that" but didn't elaborate.
Spencer said "the buck stops with me, moving forward."
Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson attended the news conference but did not speak. Sarah Russell, the city's emergency management commissioner, was not at the event.
Russell at a news conference Saturday had said the city put out a tornado watch alert hours before the storm to the 200,000 or so subscribers to its NotifyStL platform.
The tornado warning, an upgraded alert, went out at 2:38 p.m. Friday, which triggered general alerts to cellphones in the area.
Russell said then that the city was also looking into complaints that some residents did not hear the outdoor sirens, but noted that the sirens are generally meant for people outside, not inside.
Aides to Spencer said after Monday's news conference that CEMA's staff was in emergency response training on Friday, the day of the tornado.
However, Rasmus Jorgensen, a mayoral spokesman, said CEMA officials were available during the training. "The problem was the protocol, which left it unclear" who was responsible, he said.
Overnight curfew continues
Also at the news conference, police spokesman Mitch McCoy said an overnight curfew would continue Monday for the fourth consecutive night.
The curfew will be in place from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in police districts 5 and 6, which include the parts of the city most affected by Friday's storm. Affected are parts of north St. Louis and the Central West End and some nearby areas.
McCoy said so far there have been no arrests for violating the curfew. He said there had been "some very limited reports" of looting but that police hadn't confirmed that any looting actually took place.
National Guard may be sought
Spencer also said the city is considering asking Gov. Mike Kehoe to activate the Missouri National Guard to help the city deal with the aftermath of the tornado.
She said city officials have been doing an assessment of everything that's needed to determine if the request should be made.
She added that the city continues to work with the governor on trying to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency involved. "Our governor has been right by our side," Spencer said.
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