DuPage County says 2 false tornado sirens triggered by human error, faulty equipment
Two false tornado sirens that went off in DuPage County in August were unrelated and the result of two different types of errors, but may be indicative of a larger problem.
The two false alarms from the Emergency Siren System rattled residents. CBS News Chicago has been pressing DuPage Public Safety Communications, known as Du-Comm, for answers about what it happened and what steps are being taken to prevent future errors.
Sirens sounded on Aug. 18 and 21. Residents at the time took to social media to voice their concerns about the false alarms.
Du-Comm told CBS News Chicago the pair of alarms were not related. Internal emails reveal more.
On Aug. 18, at 3:52 a.m., the Du-Comm technical services manager wrote to the director, "I wish I could say good morning" in regards to the dead-of-night-test, when a trainee triggered an accidental alarm
"It appears the all-town test button was pressed instead of the all-town cancel, which ultimately led to a sire activation countywide," the email reads.
In another email, the head of Du-Comm wrote, "This was terrible timing…for whatever reason she hit the wrong button at 3." The blast came just days after multiple tornado outbreaks in the Chicago area.
The Aug. 21 blast is now blamed on a piece of equipment that connects multiple systems. The county now uses an automated tornado siren system by Fulton.
But even weeks before the false alarms, internal emails raised questions.
"We experienced multiple failures with the sirens again while trying to perform the monthly siren test," an email from Aug. 4 reads.
"The hardware that has been causing the issues has failed again," says an email from Aug. 4.
"Today, Fulton was able to replace the faulty equipment," reads an email from Aug. 13.
Du-Comm stressed the two false alarms are different. The said they cannot discuss was caused the second error in detail for security reasons.
CBS News Chicago has repeatedly asked the agency for an on-camera interview, but they have declined.
Wednesday the Du-Comm Executive Committee will meet for the first time since the false sirens sounded, and that topic is on the agenda.
