Dane County upgrades emergency warning system

Dane County’s emergency warning system is set to receive an upgrade in March, a move that may have several people hearing their local warning siren go off.

The system has 134 outdoor warning sirens that will sound off individually for a little more than one minute each. The upgrading process will last through March, and the current plan is to test eight sirens a day during business hours.

County officials said people hearing their local warning system go off should double-check that the sirens do not mean something more sinister.

“If people hear an outdoor warning siren and they’re concerned whether they should be warned or not, the first thing to do is go find out if there’s an active severe weather warning out,” Dane County Emergency Services spokesperson J. McLellan said.

Dane County workers will post the siren work schedule on their Facebook account, Dane County Emergency Management, and their Twitter account, @DaneCountyEM.