Published on: Friday, August 12, 2011

By: Christa Puccio

I grew up in the state of Maryland and lived here until I moved to Ohio for college.  At Ohio University, I experienced a tornado siren for the first time.  The ear-piercing sound and the instant response of fear that it set in is something I will never forget.  The sirens are loud enough to make your chest rumble similar to standing right next to the speakers at a rock concert.

I lived in Cincinnati for a year and just this past spring the tornado siren system saved my life.  At the time I was poor and I lived in a basement apartment.  My cell phone never worked down there, I couldn’t afford TV and I didn’t have a radio in my apartment either.  I was heading out to my car and the sky looked like it was going a little bit green and the wind was picking up a bit, but this happens often for storms in Ohio, so I continued out to my car.  Before I left, I head the tornado sirens go off and immediately I stopped in the driveway.  I went right back inside and stayed in my back room to avoid the windows in my apartment.  When the storm passed, I went out to my car again to meet my friend.  A tornado had passed through and there was debris everywhere along the road.  Tree branches blocking roads, power outages every few blocks, trash cans scattered, it was a heck of a storm that I was able to avoid driving in because of one simple alert – a siren.  It arguably saved my life that day.

Now that I have moved back to Maryland, I came to find out that Montgomery County does not have sirens as its form an emergency alert and it makes me nervous to think that if a tornado came through, many will never know until it’s too late.

I interviewed Chris Voss, director of emergency response and homeland security, with my managing editor, Brian Karem.  I explained to Voss that if a person in Montgomery County were to be in the same situation here as I was in when I lived in Ohio, they would not have any means to AlertMontgomery, televised emergency notifications, radio emergency notifications and no cell phone calls or texts and ultimately would NEVER be notified when there is a tornado, severe storm, nuclear disaster, terrorist attack, etc.  His response – “Well, you know… isn’t Ohio in tornado alley?”

Yes, Voss.  So I guess since we’re not in tornado alley, you’re screwed if you don’t have a cell phone with you, turned on, subscribed to AlertMontgomery and actually read the text message Voss will send out to you because sirens are “cost prohibited.”  Maybe if Voss experienced a tornado first-hand or spoke with a county that has had to respond to one before it might change his mind.  Or maybe nothing will until one day a tornado does come through Montgomery County and we all witness how ineffective our emergency response systems truly are…

But for now, thanks for looking out for all members of the community, Voss.