Public Education

Outdoor Warning System

The Macomb County Office of Emergency Management & Communications in conjunction with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office operates an Outdoor Warning System by way of Outdoor Warning Sirens that are located throughout the county.  Following is a list of the communities that participate in the County’s system.  If your community is not on this list, please check with your local government office for more information on your community’s outdoor warning system.

Participating Jurisdictions:

• Armada Township
• Bruce Township/Village of Romeo
• Chesterfield Township/New Baltimore
• Clinton Township
• Eastpointe
• Fraser
• Harrison Township
• Lenox Township
• Macomb Township
• Mt. Clemens
• New Haven
• Ray Township
• Richmond
• Richmond Township
• St. Clair Shores
• Utica
• Washington Township

The Outdoor Warning Sirens are meant to alert those people outdoors, if an immediate threat has entered your community.  The Macomb County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch is responsible for the activation of the outdoor warning system.  In most instances this system is used for severe weather conditions but remember that when a siren is activated to never assume that you know what the threat is.  Always seek shelter immediately and if your electricity has not been impacted, refer to your local media, to ascertain the nature of the threat and receive instructions regarding your safety.  A battery powered radio is recommended for every household or business in the event that electricity is not available.

The system may be activated for the following Severe Weather Conditions:

• Tornado Warning as issued by the National Weather Service for our area
• Severe Thunderstorm Warning accompanied by winds 70 mph or greater as issued by the National Weather Service for our area
• Tornado and/or Funnel cloud sightings that have been verified by a reputable source

The system may also be activated for other incidents that require immediate alerting of our population to take certain protective actions.  These events may include, but are not limited to a Hazardous Material Spill that may impact the community and require either an evacuation or in-place sheltering.

The county does not activate our system for an “all clear” notification once the threat is no longer present.

The Outdoor Warning System is tested the first Saturday of each month at 1:00 pm.

The 911 system in our county and in your community should only be utilized to report an actual emergency, not to notify the dispatch center that either the sirens have been activated or to question why the sirens are activated.  There are other sources for this type of information which include your local radio and TV outlets and the National Weather Service App.

For additional information regarding Severe Weather, Sheltering, or other Emergency Preparedness information please refer to our Community Emergency Preparedness Workbook that can be hyperlinked from this site.  You may also contact our office at (586) 469-5270 or MCOEM@macombgov.org.

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office. NWR broadcasts official weather service warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard information 24/7.

In conjunction with Federal, State and Local Emergency Managers and other public officials, NWR also broadcasts warning and post-event information for all types of hazards – including natural (such as earthquakes or tornadoes), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills) and public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 telephone outages).

For more information about All Hazard NOAA Weather Radios click on https://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/index.php