Community Alert Siren to Sound Saturday, July 4 in Worcester

Worcester County residents on Saturday, July 4 will again be hearing the emergency alert signals from their local fire sirens.

County officials say they have taken this step to provide additional means to warn the surrounding communities of imminent danger and the need to tune to either radio, television or the Internet for information in the event of emergencies.

Sirens are tested the first Saturday of each month. Residents will hear a steady alert tone sound at 10 a.m. for approximately one minute.

Officials say that since the end of the Cold War, most serious threats to areas of the Eastern Shore have been weather related, and the emergency alert sirens have gone unused. However, emergency alert sirens continue to be employed in tornado-prone areas of the country where they are used to warn residents that a tornado has been spotted and to take cover.

Officials say the reinstitution of the emergency alert siren in Worcester County can be viewed as an additional form of early warning system to protect area residents in the event of a disaster.