While Rockford sleeps, Winnebago County takes lead on sirens!

January 17th, 2008 at 12:36pm Chuck Sweeny

The City of Rockford remains silent on the topic, but as it did with the cleanout of Keith Creek, Winnebago County government is stepping into the lead role in promoting installation of emergency warning sirens throughout the county, including in the city of Rockford.

County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen has issued an official “Call for proposals, instructions and specifications for outdoor warning system.”

The county will “receive sealed proposals in the Purchasing Department, Winnebago County, Administration Building, 404 Elm St. Room 2002, Rockford IL 61101 until 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 20, 2008.”

The county is “seeking proposals from qualified firms who can design and install a Countywide warning device system. ” The county is about half rural, half urban.

“Currently, outside of the firehouses, only one municipality has a siren system in place.” (They’re talking about Loves Park, which has a partial system.)

“The County is looking to purchase a Countywide outdoor warning device system with controls and seeks to do this by a phased approach.”

Christiansen told me he’s already had calls from people who want to donate the use of their towers for siren installation. He wants to save money by using as many existing towers as possible.

The county is “looking for a turnkey system and would require any bidder to be able to perform the complete installation to include testing, training, maintenance and readily available support beyond the initial startup,” the call for proposals says.

The system is expected to cost around $1.2 million, Christiansen says. He hopes to get  emergency grant money from state, and possibly federal sources, perhaps Homeland Security.

Christiansen wants to combine the sirens with low-cost weather radios and a reverse 911 system to alert people of emergencies via land phones, mobile phones, faxes and e-mail.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized