We have seven emergency notification sirens located throughout our Fire District. We do not have any plans to cease using these existing Outside Warning Devices in our jurisdiction. However, we do recommend using a battery powered weather radio, weather app on your cell phone, or CODE RED for the primary emergency notification in addition to the Outside Warning Devices. These are commonly referred to by many people as the Tornado Sirens. We do not have any immediate plans to increase the number of devices due to the cost and the number of units needed to cover the entire District. The number of devices would exceed 40 at a cost of approximately 1.2 million dollars.

The outside warning siren is truly a secondary notification means for those people who are outside playing golf, farming, at the park, riding a bike, etc. who are away from a primary source such as a weather radio, TV, computer, cell phone, or standard radio. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the first and most effective way of gathering severe storm information is through a weather radio. The sirens will not penetrate most homes or businesses built today and especially the basements. Therefore, many citizens never hear the Emergency Notification Sirens during severe weather. This is why they are considered Outside Warning Devices.

We do not sound the sirens for watches or warnings. We sound the sirens for a confirmed sighting by public safety personnel, trained weather spotters, and/or NOAA conditions/weather radar showing a tornado on the ground in close proximity to Ft. Lupton. DO NOT DEPEND ON THE SIRENS FOR SOLE NOTIFICATION IN CASE OF A TORNADO. WE MAY NEVER SEE THE TORNADO AT NIGHT. They are rare but do occur. The siren warning is a 3-minute steady tone. It may be sounded multiple times. The “All Clear” is a 30 second up and down tone. We test the sirens for 30 seconds the first Monday of every month at 1200 noon April through October.

If you hear the emergency notification sirens, you should immediately take cover in the basement or other safe part of your house/business away from the windows. Below grade is recommended. Monitor the weather radio or other notification device for further instructions and do not come out of a protected area until advised to do so by your weather radio/cell phone or the “ALL CLEAR” tone if you are able to hear it. We do not recommend that people go outside to attempt to “spot” the severe weather.

We would recommend that citizens purchase a battery powered weather radio that will alert you to severe weather, subscribe to a weather service such as 9 News, etc. and monitor the news media for weather alerts. Here is a free site that you can sign up for to get alerts for your area via e mail. Here is a free site that you can sign up for to get alerts for your area via e mail. http://alert5.udfcd.org/notif.../emwin-denver-subscriptions/ We use this site for Weld County, and it provides regular emails on severe weather. Go to Emwin Weld on the list and sign up. You will get a number of notification emails in severe weather. You can also go to Code Red Emergency Notifications and sign up to be notified for emergencies in your area. Go to the Weld County Code Red site to sign up https://www.weld.gov/Government/Departments/Public-Information-Office/CodeRED .  These notifications will go directly to your cell phone or e mail based upon your address location.

It is also recommended that families store enough food, water, clothing, and other supplies for at a minimum of three days in case of a community emergency.