Outdoor Warning Sirens
The City of Arlington Outdoor Warning Siren System consists of more than 50 sirens designed to alert and notify the general population in outdoor areas of imminent or existing emergency situations. When sirens are activated, citizens should seek shelter indoors and tune to local news sources to gain further information on the emergency situation. Upon activation, the sirens have one tone that sound for 3 minutes. Most of the Arlington sirens rotate, creating a doppler sound effect. The siren is loudest when pointed in your direction.
Reason For Activation
- Natural Emergencies – A disaster or an emergency is imminent or has occurred due to a tornado, flash flood/high water, straight-line winds, large hail, or severe storm.
- Act of Terrorism – Impending attack, actual attack, or terrorism threat/incident against the City of Arlington, Tarrant County, State of Texas or United States.
- Chemical Emergency – An accidental release, spill, or burning of a hazardous substance at a fixed facility or along a transportation route i.e. railroad, highway, pipeline, or waterway.
- Nuclear Incident – Radiation fallout hazards exist from nuclear detonations or accident.
- Any other reason needed to notify the public of imminent threat/danger.
Monthly Outdoor Warning Siren Test
The City of Arlington tests its Outdoor Warning Siren System on the first Wednesday of every month at 1:00 p.m., weather permitting. The University of Texas at Arlington will also conduct its siren test on the first Wednesday of every month at 12:30 PM. The test – which will be heard campus-wide through strategically placed loudspeakers – will consist of a combination of chimes and prerecorded announcements. The University community will hear electronic chimes and then the following announcement: “This is a test of the University Outdoor Warning System. This is only a test. If this had been an actual emergency, additional instructions would be broadcast. This is only a test.” At the conclusion of the test, the following announcement will be broadcast: “This concludes the test of the Outdoor Warning System. Please resume normal operations.”
Wireless Emergency Alerts
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are emergency messages from authorized government officials that broadcasts through cell towers to any WEA-enabled mobile phone. WEAs are sent to locally targeted areas, so you do not need to subscribe to individual areas to receive alerts. WEAs are short messages that warn the public of impending natural or human-made disasters. WEAs provide emergency alerting for severe weather, tornados and other emergencies, regardless of if you are indoors or outdoors.
Types of Wireless Emergency Alerts include:
- National Alerts- special class of alerts only sent during a national emergency.
- Imminent Threat Alerts- include natural or human-made disasters, extreme weather, active shooter, and other threatening emergencies that are current or ongoing.
- Public Safety Alerts- contain information about a threat that may not be imminent or after an imminent threat has occurred. Public safety alerts are less severe than imminent threat alerts.
- AMBER Alerts- urgent bulletins issued in child-abduction cases to enable the community to assist in the search and safe recovery of a child.
- Opt-In Test Messages- assess the capability of state and local officials to send their WEAs.
Mobile phone users have the ability to disable certain WEAs. Imminent Threat Alerts, Public Safety Alerts, AMBER Alerts, and Opt-In Test Messages are optional to enable on mobile devices. WEAs are free to receive and do not impact texting limits on your wireless plan.
Arlington Office of Emergency Management encourages all residents and visitors to the City of Arlington to enable Public Safety and Imminent Threat Wireless Emergency Alerts to receive critical, timely information about severe weather impacts to the City of Arlington. Severe weather alerts are issued by the National Weather Service and work in coordination with the Office of Emergency Management and the use of the Outdoor Warning Sirens.
To learn how to enable Wireless Emergency Alerts on your iPhone. To learn how to enable Wireless Emergency Alerts on your Android phone.