When disaster strikes, you may have only a short time to make what might be a life or death decision. Even though it is rare, catastrophic events such as tornadoes or major chemical releases do occur. We can not predict exactly where or when they will occur, but we can take precautions to minimize the danger.

One of the most important things you can do is to be aware that a danger is present. Most of the injuries and deaths happen to people who are unaware or uninformed. For this reason, it is crucial that you understand the warning systems.

The Benton County Emergency Warning System

Throughout Benton County and its Municipalities, the Emergency Warning System is much more than a system of outdoor sirens. The sirens are important, but they are just one component of a much larger system. There is a great deal of communication and coordination taking place behind the scenes before the sirens are ever sounded. The County’s ability to provide warnings is a result of partnerships with the National Weather Service, local emergency response agencies, and others. It is also the result of dedicated Emergency Management and Communications Center staff as well as trained volunteer storm spotters and Ham Radio operators. These groups all work together to make up an integrated system of hazard detection, consequence prediction, and warning dissemination. These all are vital components of our warning system.

The County takes an "all-hazards" approach to public warning. Severe weather is far and away our most common threat, but it is not the only one we face. A major air-borne hazardous material release, for example, could cause a significant threat to public safety. An incident of this type may necessitate activation of any one of a number of components of the system, including outdoor sirens.

Benton County Emergency Warning System Components

The County uses a combination of methods for alerting the public when disaster threatens. We recognize that no one application can provide warning to all citizens. As a result, we take a systematic approach, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each component. Some of these alerting methods, such as outdoor sirens, are owned and operated by the Municipalities. Others, such as NOAA Weather Radio or local broadcast media are not controlled by the County, but cooperate in broadcasting warning information.

Warning Sirens

The Cities of Bentonville, Decatur, Gentry, Gravette, Highfill, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Siloam Springs, and Sulphur Springs have strategically located warning sirens throughout their respective jurisdictions. These Municipalities are responsible for testing and warning activation of all sirens in the system.

While tornado warnings are the most common cause for siren activation, the sirens should not be considered to be "tornado sirens”. They are intended as an "all-hazards" alerting system and may be activated for any type of emergency situation. The sounding of the sirens does not necessarily mean that a Tornado Warning has been issued. In fact, it means only that an emergency event has occurred or is about to occur and you may need to take action to protect yourself. If you hear a siren, you should immediately seek additional information through local radio and television stations.

There are a number of factors that affect the range of the siren.

Atmospheric conditions can affect siren range in many ways. Wind speed and direction, air stability, and relative humidity all affect the distance that the sound will travel. Your ability to hear the siren will change as these conditions change. It is very possible that from your location, in some cases you will be able to hear the siren, while in other cases, you won't.

Topography and background noise levels will also have an affect on your ability to hear the sirens. Hills, trees, and buildings can be barriers that block the sound. High background noise levels from highways or industrial areas can mask the sound of the siren. These conditions will effectively limit the warning range of the siren.

Sirens can also be very susceptible to disruptions in the electrical power supply. A majority of the sirens operate on power supplied by local utilities. Power failures, which are common during thunderstorms, can disable a siren. In addition, lightning striking a nearby power line can blow fuses in the siren itself. This will also disable the unit until the fuses can be replaced.

Even with these limitations, sirens can be a very affective source of warning, if you are outdoors and within range of the siren.

Some Municipalities operate a system of emergency alert monitors for the sole purpose of providing warning information to specific at risk populations. This includes critical infrastructure such as government facilities, schools and hospitals. The system is activated to retransmit specific National Weather Service warnings as well as providing warnings of local events such as a hazardous material spill.

These systems provides emergency broadcasts that can be received by special emergency alert monitors. An emergency alert monitor is a special radio that can be activated remotely by transmitting certain codes. The radios normally operate in stand-by mode, but upon receipt of the proper code, will emit an attention getting alarm. An alpha-numeric or audible message, as well as live audio can then be broadcast, providing specific information as to the nature of the emergency.

Benton County Website

Benton County residents can monitor the County’s website during large scale emergencies and disasters for information including shelter openings, utility restoration and disaster recovery.

Citizens know that they can call 9-1-1 to get police, fire, or emergency medical assistance. Now, through a partnership with local Municipalities, Officials can utilize the BC Alert Notification System to contact citizens with emergency information.

How does BC Alert work?

BC Alert is an alert notification system that allows Officials to immediately contact you during a major crisis or emergency and can deliver important emergency alerts, notifications and updates to you on all your devices:

• email account (work, home, other)
• wireless devices (cell phone, pagers)
• landlines
• smartphones

BC Alert is your connection to real-time updates. BC Alert will provide you with instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, and who to contact during an emergency. Other important information can also be passed on to you through this notification system. BC Alert is a free service; however, your wireless carrier may charge you a fee to receive messages on your device.

See the BC Alert website at to register or receive further information.

NOAA Weather Radio is a network of radio stations broadcasting continuous information directly from a nearby National Weather Service (NWS) office. The radio service transmits weather warnings and forecasts 24 hours a day. In addition to weather information, NWR works in cooperation with the FCC's Emergency Alert System, providing comprehensive weather and emergency information. In conjunction with federal, state, and local emergency managers and other public officials, NWR also broadcasts warning and post-event information for all types of hazards, including natural (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills), and public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 Telephone outages).

When a warning is issued for the area which a station covers, certain weather radios are designed to turn on or sound an alarm upon detection of a 1050 Hz tone, issued for ten seconds immediately before the warning message.

Newer radios can instead detect a digital-over-audio protocol called Specific Area Message Encoding or SAME, which allows the users to program their radios for specific geographical areas of interest and concern, rather than for an entire regional broadcast area. The SAME code is broadcast, followed by the 1050 Hz tone. This has the advantage of eliminating the numerous "false alarms" for the 1050 Hz weather alerts that may apply to an area 100 or 150 miles in distant. The SAME codes are aligned along county lines using the standard US Government FIPS county codes.

The Emergency Alert System (EAS), adopted in 1997 is the successor to the old Emergency Broadcast System (EBS). The Emergency Alert System is composed of AM, FM, and television broadcast stations as well as cable television, operating in cooperation with local authorities to provide uniform and consistent information in an emergency.

Other local broadcasters can pick up the message from any of these sources and rebroadcast it at their discretion. You can recognize an EAS message from the distinctive tone that begins each broadcast. The announcer will also identify the broadcast as an activation of the Emergency Alert System.

In an emergency, you should stay tuned to participating EAS stations to receive emergency warnings and situation updates. In addition, commercial receivers are available to receive EAS warnings directly. The complexity of these devices varies, with some being simple monitors of one EAS source to other units that can be set to monitor multiple sources. A number of EAS monitors are designed to be connected to external alerting devices, electronic message boards, and building public address systems. Most EAS monitors are relatively expensive and are designed for commercial use.

Broadcast Radio and Television

In addition to participating in the Emergency Alert System, broadcast television and radio stations are a vital component of our warning system. Local radio and television stations routinely broadcast official "Watches" and "Warnings" issued by the National Weather Service as well as information concerning local emergencies. Television, in particular, is an excellent source of emergency information since graphics such as radar displays and maps can be used to describe the event in detail.

Internet

The Internet offers a nearly inexhaustible source of information concerning storm warnings and severe weather forecasting. Please be aware that Internet sources of warning are not as dependable as the other systems referenced in this document. Information received from sources on the Internet is subject to delays and may not arrive soon enough to provide an adequate warning. In addition, your ability to receive information through the Internet requires the operation of numerous systems, some of which are completely beyond our control. The Internet should be considered as an additional source of information and should not be considered as the primary source of emergency warning for life-threatening events.

Warning System Recommendations

The warning system can only be effective if you understand the benefits and limitations of the alerting methods available. There are a great deal of warning devices and methods available to you. We recommend that you take advantage of as many of them as possible. No one warning method is perfect and no one warning method can be guaranteed never to fail. By relying on one single method, such as the sounding of the sirens or the receiving information solely from broadcast meteorologists, you risk missing a warning if that system fails. By taking a systematic approach and getting information from more than one source, you are much more likely to receive the warning, even if there is a failure in one of the components.