HOPE — A suspected lightning strike has temporarily left the town of Hope without an outdoor emergency warning system.
Although it’s possible the siren could become operational again as early as next week, Hope Town Marshal Matt Tallent said an exact time frame for the restoration is not available.
While the replacement cost is estimated at $16,000, officials in Hope are hopeful the town’s insurance will cover most — if not all — of the expense, town manager J.T. Doane said.
No one is sure when the outdoor warning siren, located near the water tower next to Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School, became inoperative, Tallent said.
But the discovery was made about two weeks ago when the mass-notification siren did not go off during a routine test, the marshal said.
When the mechanism was taken down and opened up, town officials learned the components inside the box were either singed or completely burned out, Tallent said.
Although representatives of the company that makes the system arrived quickly to examine the damage, the insurance company is still assessing the $16,000 invoice it has received from the town, Doane said.
The last time Hope’s mass-notification system was replaced was just after Aug. 10, 2012, according to news accounts. That’s when a sudden and devastating storm damaged dozens of northeast Bartholomew County buildings, leaving about 400 homes and businesses without electricity for up to several days.
As long as the system remains inactive, both police and volunteer firefighters will have to do exactly what they did six years ago, Tallent said.
If there is a substantial risk of tornadoes, officers will activate their sirens and travel through the town of 2,100 residents, using the public address system in their patrol cars to provide warning, Tallent said.
Right now, public safety officials in Hope are striving to remain vigilant in keeping a close eye for potentially violent weather, the marshal said.
But even without the siren, many Hope residents still have better notification of approaching dangers than they did six years ago.
The same week that the 2012 storm struck Hope, the Bartholomew County Emergency Operations Center announced it would be installing a system commonly called Reverse 911 at the time.
Today, it’s known as the Everbridge system. All Bartholomew County residents who choose can receive alerts by phone, text message or e-mail about severe weather, road closures or emergency notifications or alerts about incidents in an affected area.
The service is offered free of charge.
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To sign up for Everbridge, the Columbus/Bartholomew County alert system, go online and visit:
- City of Columbus website at columbus.in.gov and click on “sign up for emergency alerts” on the homepage.
There is no charge for receiving these alerts. To learn more about Everbridge and the company’s services, visit everbridge.com.
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