Downers Grove repairing malfunctioning tornado siren

A faulty tornado siren that woke thousands of Downers Grove residents in the early morning hours of Thursday is being replaced and probably won't be operational for at least a week, officials said.

The siren at 5420 Main St. -- one of seven in the village -- went off at 1:08 a.m. and continued to wail for about an hour, said Doug Kozlowski, village communications director.

Kozlowski said the village's 911 center was inundated with more than 900 calls in an hour, forcing dispatchers to call police officers off the street to help answer resident inquiries and complaints.

Crews from Fulton Technologies examined the malfunctioning siren and discovered a damaged circuit board in its radio receiver.

Work to replace the siren already has begun and is expected to take a week to 10 days. Kozlowski said there is sufficient overlap among the six other sirens -- all of which have been checked -- to ensure all areas of the village are covered in the event of a weather emergency.

"Something like this has never happened in the 30-plus years the village has had tornado warning sirens," Kozlowski said.