Important upgrades have been made to emergency alert systems in Park Township and, as a whole, Ottawa County.
Park Township says seven new emergency sirens are expected to be fully operational in July. The municipality approved the purchase of the new sirens in September, several months after straight-line winds severely damaged homes in Marigold Woods and Waukazoo Woods.
Park Township Fire Chief Scott Gamby told The Sentinel all seven sirens have been installed and are awaiting integration into the emergency notification system.
Meanwhile, Ottawa County Emergency Management has rolled out a modernized alert platform by Federal Signal called CommanderOne. The system allows for cloud-based remote activation, faster emergency notifications, real-time monitoring and map-based siren activation, improving situational awareness for officials.
Under CommanderOne, sirens will be triggered automatically within the specific warning area indicated by the National Weather Service — rather than an entire quadrant.
The upgrade will reportedly help officials make faster decisions during severe weather and hazardous material incidents, while reducing unnecessary siren activations.
— Cassidey Kavathas is the politics and court reporter at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at ckavathas@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on X @cassideykava.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Seven new emergency sirens are nearly ready in Park Township
Reporting by Cassidey Kavathas, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cassidey Kavathas, Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
