Public Warning
Early Warning is critical is any disaster situation. There are many modes of warning available to County officials in the event that a disaster or emergency situation requires prompt notification to the public. Examples of these include
Information is available on the following:
Sirens- See also the Monroe County Siren Page
Cable TV Override
Tone-Alert Monitors
Emergency Alert System [E.A.S.] (Formerly Emergency Broadcast System [E.B.S.]
NOAA Weather Radio
Sirens
Sirens are used to provide early warning to a variety of emergencies. In Monroe County, these include tornadoes and a plant accident at the Enrico Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant in Newport.When you hear a siren, tune your radio or TV to your local EAS Station for official news and information about the emergency.
Sirens for the Fermi 2 plant are strategically located within a 10-mile radius (Emergency Planning Zone (E.P.Z.)) of the plant. Sirens are tested on the last Wednesday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in the "Alert" tone, which is a three-minute continuous blast. This tone will be activated for any emergency requiring public warning and notification. Within the plant EPZ, there are no longer voice sirens. A single tone siren with no voice system has been implemented, which is consistent with most other nuclear power plant communities throughout the country.
The county maintains and operates a system of high power voice/alert sirens that are located at strategic points throughout the county.
Cable TV Override
For residents who are subscribers to certain cable companies in Monroe County, a cable "override" capability is used for public warning.
Cable companies give Emergency Management officials the ability to take over or "override" the entire cable system, which interrupts all programming on channels. At this time, most systems only give audio warnings, whereas the picture goes blank or to "snow" and a voice message is broadcast.
The following cable systems have override capabilities:
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Monroe Cablevision
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Bedford Cablevision
Tone Alert Monitors
Ensuring the safety of schools and industry within Monroe County is a goal within the Emergency Management Division. Most schools (public & private) and industry within the County have opted to purchase a tone-alert monitor to warn them of impending emergency situations.
Tone-Alert monitors are activated from the Emergency Management Division or Central Dispatch. A two-tone encoding signal is transmitted via radio, followed by a voice announcement indicating the type of emergency and what precautions should be taken.
Some examples of Tone-Alert monitor sites:
These institutions, and 42 others, make up a network that enhances the public warning system and ensures that warning is transmitted to as many persons as possible.
Emergency Alert System [E.A.S.]
The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) is now the Emergency Alert System (E.A.S.) The Federal Communications Commission is currently working on expanding and improving this system to better serve the needs of citizens and emergency workers. Monroe County is part of the Southeast Michigan Operational Area.
The EAS Stations are listed below. Television stations sign off between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Radio Station WLLZ-AM operates from sunrise to sunset. Remaining radio stations broadcast 24 hours per day.
Radio Stations
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WJR 760 AM Detroit - EAS Primary Station (LP-1)
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WWJ 950 AM Detroit - EAS Secondary Primary Station (LP-2)
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WCSX 94.7 FM Detroit
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WLLZ 560 AM Monroe
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WTWR 98.3 FM Monroe/Luna Pier
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WJOF 88.1 FM Monroe
Television
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WJBK-TV Channel 2 Detroit
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WDIV-TV Channel 4 Detroit
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WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit
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WDWB-TV Channel 20 Detroit
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WKBD-TV Channel 50 Detroit
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WTVS-TV Channel 56 Detroit
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WWJ-TV Channel 62 Detroit
NOAA Weather Radio
A transmitter is located in Lenawee County that covers both the Monroe and Lenawee regions, plus several counties in northern Ohio.
You may take advantage of these broadcasts to get up-to-the-minute weather updates, and storm warnings in real time. By purchasing a weather-alert receiver from an electronics store. When purchasing a receiver, be sure that it has the capability of SAME (specific area message encoding - for filtering out unwanted broadcasts), and also the tone alert feature that will activate when a watch or warning is issued for our area.
To use this service, program your weather radio to frequency 162.450. Residents living in the northern townships of the county who have trouble receiving on this frequency, may tune to the main Weather Radio frequency at 162.550.
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