Sedgwick County Emergency Management is planning a different test for the outdoor warning sirens.

The sirens are usually tested on Mondays at noon in an alert mode, which is a steady tone used for tornado warnings.    The test on Monday, May 2nd will be in attack mode, which is a rising and falling tone.    Deputy Emergency Management Director Jonathan Marr said the attack mode has a more traditional sound and it would be used during times of war or for enemy attack.    He said the message with both modes is the same, urging people to take shelter and check with news sources to get warning information.

Marr said the attack mode was last tested in 2009, and teams will be listening in different locations on May 2nd to find out if any maintenance is needed in the system.   The test will last 3 to 5 minutes.

This is the 70th anniversary of the first air raid siren test in Wichita, and Emergency Management is planning activities this year to observe that anniversary.   Marr said the Wichita-Sedgwick County Civil Defense office received the first ever produced Thunderbolt warning sirens in 1952.  The first siren was tested on April 22nd, 1952, and it was placed on top of the Roosevelt School, which is now part of East High School, and it still stands today.   The county still has the four oldest Thunderbolt sirens ever made.  They were taken down last November for refurbishment, and they will be put back up at some fire stations.

Marr said the sirens were repurposed to use for tornado warnings, and the first ever use of a siren in an actual warning situation happened at Greenwich Road and Waterman on June 11th, 1958.

The county has an Adopt-A-Siren program, where citizens can “adopt” their neighborhood siren.   They can listen to the siren during the Monday tests, and they can report on whether the test worked well or not.