Macomb, IL – ESDA directors in five western Illinois counties are cooperating to create a more responsive emergency warning system.
McDonough County Director Dan Kreps says the effort involves improvements to how warnings through weather radios are broadcast.
Kreps says all stations are required to be able to receive the warnings, but are not required to pass them on to the public.
He says the group of emergency workers will meet with personnel from the stations to ask them to install equipment that can automatically relay the messages.
Tri-States Public Radio and some other stations in the western Illinois are set up to insure that weather service warnings are automatically re-broadcast.
Kreps says the issue becomes especially important when stations are running with automated programming and there are no staff on site.
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The effort involves broadcast media in Adams, Brown, Schuyler, McDonough and Hancock Counties.
The National Weather Services issues storm warnings, but can broadcast notice of hazardous material spills, major accidents or other emergencies.