Next week is Severe Weather Awareness Week, but Shawano residents got an early and accidental reminder about severe weather preparedness Wednesday.
Sirens in the city were set off by Shawano County Sheriff’s Department dispatch around 5 a.m., according to Natalie Easterday, the county’s emergency management director.
‘There was a human error that found a system malfunction,” she said.
Apparently a wrong button was pushed after a call came in regarding a fire at Charlie’s County Market.
The fire turned out to be a false alarm, but the button, which should have alerted the fire department, instead set off the severe weather warning sirens.
“There was a programming error that led to the issue,” Easterday said.
She said the issue was being corrected.
“The county is actively working with its vendor to correct the programming error so this doesn’t occur again,” Sheriff Adam Bieber said in a Facebook post.
On the plus side, the unscheduled test of the system indicates the sirens are ready for tornado season.
Wisconsin Emergency Management, ReadyWisconsin, the National Weather Service and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association are teaming up for Wisconsin’s Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week, which starts Monday.
Residents will hear the sirens sound again during a statewide tornado drill April 16.
However, those sirens will sound at a much more reasonable hour, sometime from 1-2 p.m.
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