'Just one tool in the toolbox': Panama City Beach Council discusses adding tornado sirens
PANAMA CITY BEACH — In an effort to better protect residents and visitors during severe weather, local officials are considering tornado sirens on the Beach.
Officials discussed the topic in a Panama City Beach City Council meeting on Thursday.
According to Chief Ray Morgan of Panama City Beach Fire Rescue, the idea of adding tornado sirens was introduced to the council about three years ago. At that time, the cost of just the sirens was slated to be about $150,000. That price now, however, would likely be in the range of $250,000, he noted.
"It's quite a large investment," Morgan said. "No system is perfect. It's just one tool in the toolbox. Typically these are systems that are used in more rural communities."
Though members of the public who attended the meeting were in favor of the sirens, Councilman Paul Casto said he thinks there could be better uses for the money. He suggested the city instead put those funds toward improving PCB Fire Rescue's beach safety division.
Nine people drowned last year while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in Bay County. Of those, six were in Panama City Beach, and three were off unincorporated beaches of the county.
One beachgoer has drowned in PCB this year.
"We lost nine people last year in the Gulf of Mexico," Casto said. "If we've got that kind of money to spend on sirens ... then I think we should be doing a better job on our lifeguard program."
He also worries tornado sirens might be an outdated technology because practically everyone now has cell phones, giving the majority of the public the ability to register for Alert Bay, an notification system that sends out text alerts during emergencies, disasters and severe storms.
Mayor Stuart Tettemer said he has spoken with residents who have concerns about relying on cell phones, especially when it comes to protecting seniors, visitors who do not know about Alert Bay or people whose phones happen to be dead when disaster strikes.
"I agree that the proposed siren systems ... are old technology," Tettemer said. "I'd be interested to see if there's any other technology that we can look at that's cheaper and more cost effective."
Beach safety: One tourist drowns off the coast of Panama City Beach, first local beach drowning of 2024
He also said that even if the city does not move forward with tornado sirens, there might be other ways to protect the public during storms, such as providing weather radios.
Officials ultimately directed staff to get an up-to-date cost estimate for the sirens and see if there are grant opportunities to fund either the sirens or weather radios.
For more information on Alert Bay, or to sign up for text alerts, visit alertbay.org.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City Beach Council discusses adding tornado sirens
