Tornado sirens planned for Libertyville area

Anyone outside during threatening weather near Libertyville could benefit from new emergency warning sirens being planned.

The Libertyville Fire Department, which provides fire, emergency and special response service for the Libertyville Fire Protection District, has pending agreements for two locations and is seeking a third.

On Monday, the Lake County Forest Preserve District’s land preservation and acquisition committee recommended approval of an easement for one of the sirens near the entrance of the Old School Forest Preserve off St. Mary’s Road east of Libertyville.

The solar-powered siren would be mounted on a 35- to 40-foot high pole and no utility hook up would be needed.

“We see it as a benefit for the users of the Des Plaines trail as well as the Old School Forest Preserve,” said Tom Hahn, executive director of the forest district. “This comes under public safety benefit for our users.”

Libertyville Fire Chief Rich Carani said the fire district has one siren near its headquarters on Atkinson Road, south of Abbott Laboratories.

The fire district covers Green Oaks, unincorporated Libertyville Township and Lake Forest and portions of Mettawa.

“We’ve been discussing a few years how to improve the warning system out there,” Carani said.

The district has one siren at St. Mary’s Road and Route 137, and there are eight others in the village.

“This is the second,” he said of the Old School location. “We’ll put one on the tollway property off Bradley Road and we’ve got one more.”

The fire district will pay for the sirens, which are strictly for outdoor warnings. The cost ranges from $28,000 to $34,000 each, according to Carani.

They will include the capability for voice messages but those are seldom used.

“It’s still the best way to do a quick alert and clear everybody out,” he said of the sirens, which tentatively are planned for installation next spring.

“The district has grown over the past few years especially southeast along the tollway. It’s nice to get them in place,” Carani said.