St. Louis' emergency management chief, Sarah Russell, was placed on leave following criticism for failing to activate tornado sirens before a deadly twister struck. The tornado resulted in five fatalities and numerous injuries, with critique aimed at the ambiguous directives given to the fire department, which ultimately did not sound the alarms. Russell, who was not present at the CEMA office during the warning, compounded issues by issuing unclear instructions. Further complicating the response, the emergency siren activation button at the fire station was malfunctioning, leading to an immediate review of the emergency management system.
The directive to activate the sirens was ambiguous, which cannot happen when a tornado is sweeping through our City and St. Louisans' safety depends on being alerted immediately.
I have been shocked and remain shocked, and frankly a bit horrified, by the issues in the system.
Russell was not at the relevant CEMA office station just before 2:30 p.m. local time when the warning was issued—but was instead at an off-site workshop.
Even if they had received the order clearly, SLFD could not have sounded the sirens because the emergency button in their offices was not working.
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