Elk Grove Village to purchase state-of-the-art outdoor warning system for Elk Grove Parks
Through a partnership with the Elk Grove Park District, the Village is purchasing a new emergency weather and lightning alert system capable of broadcasting emergency alerts to all residential areas in the community.
Last night the Elk Grove Village Board approved an agreement with the Elk Grove Park District to purchase a new emergency weather and lightning alert system, which will replace the aging Thor Guard system at parks throughout the community.
The Perry Weather outdoor warning system is a completely wireless, cloud-based emergency alert and lighting warning system that is constantly operational and integrated with the most reliable lightning detection network to provide round-the-clock weather risk monitoring and warning.
Warnings for lightning through the new system will continue using the audio and visual cues familiar to Elk Grove residents'one 15-second horn blast to warn of lightning in the area, along with a strobe light flash while the alert remains active, and three short horn blasts and the cessation of the strobe light indicating an all-clear.
The new system will also be equipped with public address functionality, which allows these units to dually function as an emergency management tool, able to broadcast personalized text-to-speech messages. The Elk Grove Park District worked with Perry Weather to ensure that the outdoor warning systems in parks throughout the community are capable of ensuring that all residential areas in the community can hear an alert from a nearby park.
"Our community has come to depend on the alerts that warn park patrons and their surrounding neighborhoods about the danger or lightning in the area and we felt it was important to continue providing this important safety tool," said Mayor Craig Johnson. "This new system uses the latest technology to ensure the accuracy of weather alerts, and to expand our capabilities for alerting our community during an emergency with the new text-to-speech capability."
The Village will be responsible for the initial system purchase, with the Elk Grove Park District overseeing the installation and assuming responsibility for ongoing maintenance of the system. Installation of the new system will begin in April and is expected to be fully functional by the end of May.
"This new system not only provides for the safety of our park patrons, but also ensures that the entire community has access to these emergency weather alerts from their nearby parks," said Elk Grove Park District board president Bill O'Malley. "We are proud to partner with the Village on efforts like this that place the health and safety of our community first."