Custer students take part in statewide emergency drill

Hazard siren in Blaine stays mute during the drill

By Stefanie Donahue

A hazard siren in Blaine failed to sound during a statewide emergency drill last week.

Called the Great Washington ShakeOut, the fifth annual earthquake preparedness drill took place at 10:18 a.m. on October 18. More than 24,000 people in Whatcom County participated, including students from Custer Elementary School; 1.4 million people joined the drill statewide.

As part of the drill, All Hazards Alert Broadcast sirens in coastal communities were tested, including those located in Blaine, Birch Bay and Point Roberts.

The sirens are capable of voice and tone alerts and are controlled by state officials, emergency services personnel and the fire district. They can be pre-programmed to warn of hazards, such as an earthquake or chemical spill, and must be routinely tested. In Whatcom County, the sirens are tested on the first Monday of every month using the Westminster chimes tone.

After the statewide drill last week, personnel at the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office division of emergency management were told that the siren at Marine Drive in Blaine didn’t sound by several residents who made phone calls, said deputy director John Gargett. The software that sends signals to the hazard sirens didn’t indicate that an error had occurred.

“We did some diagnostics on it,” he said. Adding a silent test was conducted on the siren and it passed. “The signal was received by the station. Obviously, the siren did not sound. It has since been reset.”

Unsure about the exact cause, Gargett said an engineer from Federal Signal, an Illinois-based company the state contracts with, will inspect the siren on Wednesday, November 14. All sirens in Whatcom County will also undergo a routine test on Monday, November 5. Gargett said he’s planned to stage people at each siren in Whatcom County to make sure they sound.

“Occasionally, there are sirens which fail to sound and they’re currently investigating why that is,” Gargett said. Last July, for example, a hazard siren in Birch Bay didn’t sound during a routine test. The issue apparently resolved itself the next month when it was tested again, he said.