Tornado Siren

Part of the civil defense siren network, in the Midwestern United States tornado sirens are critical to saving lives when dangerous weather is imminent. While modern cell phones have made getting urgent and location-relevant weather information more reliable, the lack of cellular service in Avalon makes other means of emergency communication necessary.

Utility

As World War II rolled across Europe, the United States instituted new measures of national safety, including air raid sirens. These installations, usually run in conjunction with local fire stations, were then rolled over through the cold war into nuclear attack sirens, and in contemporary times serve primarily as emergency weather alerts.

As technology progressed through the 20th century, other systems such as the Emergency Alert Service broadcasts on television and radio, as well as various cellular delivery modes (National Weather Service (NWS) alerts, Amber/Silver/Green alerts, etc.) have made the sirens the last line of warning to all but the most rural communities.

Avalon, of course, being one such rural community, the siren was particularly vital during the Storm of '74, a massive supercell that ravaged the Midwest in April of that year. As the storms moved in and grew worse, the NWS alerts recieved over the weather radio band allowed Avalon's emergency services team to warn the village in time for everyone to gather at the Avalon Village Community Center several minutes before the worst of the supercell impacted the village.

In the years since, the village siren has been tested every Friday morning at 11 am, and deployed as necessary whenever the weather -- or other events -- require residents to seek refuge.