In Feb. 28-Mar. 5 issue
By Derek Aaron
Times Journal Reporter

JAMESTOWN - The effort to supply Russell County with as many as 10 new advanced warning emergency sirens is steadily growing, according to the county's emergency management director H.M. Bottom.

Bottom and Judge-Executive Mickey Garner, representing the Fiscal Court, have been attending local city meetings and visiting various businesses and individuals in recent weeks looking for money to help fund the emergency sirens.

Bottom said both he and Garner are surprised at how many had joined in by donating to this project.

As of Tuesday, 13 businesses or individuals and both Russell Springs and Jamestown said they would participate in the funding of the siren project.

These include the cities of Russell Springs and Jamestown, Stephens Pipe & Steel, Monticello Banking, First National Bank, Bank of Jamestown, BB&T Bank, Community Trust Bank, Superior Battery, DuoCounty Telephone, Jamestown Marina, Red Sun Homes, Branscum Construction and Key Village, Lake Cumberland Community Action Agency and Phillip Gaskin.

"We are continuing to work make this a successful venture," Bottom said. "Its going good and we hope to obtain enough warning sirens to cover most all people in the county in the event of a disaster."

Bottom said the six schools were of biggest concern and locating sirens near the schools was the number one priority.

Bottom said people with the federal siren company would choose where the best locations would be to put the sirens to where they wouldn't overlap one another.

He said the sirens would be placed on light poles, anywhere between 60 to 80 feet in the air and programmed to alert with different pitched sounds depending upon the type of emergency, be it a tornado, fire or otherwise. He said that the South Kentucky RECC would help with the installation of these sirens.

"At this time the Fiscal Court can't fund the full project so we're asking for help," he said.

According to www.federalwarningsystems.com, the type of siren that the county will be purchasing is the 2001-130 warning siren, "the most reliable and highest quality outdoor warning siren available today."

The siren can be controlled by computer, land lines or radio and can produce three signals for various applications, Bottom said
The deadline for donating to this project is March 15, according to Bottom

He said that last Friday, the siren engineers came down below Wolf Creek Dam and pinpointed the locations of where the five sirens should go, if the massive structure were to collapse.