Tribe upgrades warning sirens in communities

Choctaw Fire/Rescue had a new automated siren system installed last week that could potentially save a lot of lives in an emergency in the eight Tribal communities. 

Choctaw Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Coordinator Austin Tubby said these new automated sirens were installed the week of Oct. 8 and were the first upgrade to the system since 2009. 

“It’s set up to where the system will send out three notices: the siren will go off, a text message is delivered, and an email is sent out,” Tubby said. “We’ve based it off the National Weather service, similar to how they have a polygon around a specific area that will be affected by a storm.”

Tubby feels that the best thing about this new system is the ability to activate it anywhere at any time. 

“As long as we have a connection to the system, it can be triggered, even if we’re across the world,” he said. “As for the alerts, we have up to 119 computer addresses we can email about tornado warnings.”

Misty Brescia, director of public information for the Tribe, said this new system is a great thing since their communities are so spread out. 

“We have outdoor warning sirens in each of our eight communities,” Bresica said. 

Brescia noted the different locations of the sirens. She said there’s two at Bogue Homa, seven at Bogue Chitto, one at Crystal Ridge, six in Conehatta, nine at Pearl River, five at Red Water, two at Standing Pine, and three at Tucker. 

“We were able to purchase the system upgrades with Tribal funds,” she said. “We have quite a few programs in the Tribal government, which are very helpful.”

Established in 1991, CFD currently has three stations: 1 & 2 at Pearl River and 3 at Bogue Chitto. Its mission is to provide the highest quality of services and to protect the lives and property of the residents, guests and employees of MBCI.