Carmel’s new emergency system

An old-fashioned idea is now the future for emergencies in Carmel.

Less than a week after storms tore through Carmel-by-the-Sea, the city tested an early warning system.

“Some people might recognize is to alert them for tornado’s or tsunami’s, but we haven’t used it,” Carmel Police Chief Paul Tomasi said. “So really we’re looking to better alert our village, where we live.”

The siren came from the top of the Carmel-by-the-Sea fire station today at noon. The last time it was used was in 2004 to alert volunteer firefighters, but now it will be used for disasters.

“If we have some emergency that needs immediate notification we might be able to wake everyone and hopefully they’ll go to their phones, or the news to find out more information on the specific emergency,” Tomasi said.

We spoke to some residents who think the sirens could have been helpful during last weeks storm.

“Although we saw the storm it was much worse that we expected, so it would have given us a great heads up about our power outage,” Carmel-by-the-Sea resident Robert Miller said.

The fire department said last weeks storm could be an example for when to use the horn. In that case, it would have been used to alert people to check their phones to see the emergency alert.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Carmel-by-the-Sea resident Donna Burt said. “It’s loud and people are going to hear it and perk up their ears.”

In an emergency, the siren would blare through the city for two minutes just like today’s test.

The police department said the siren was plenty loud.

“I put officers at the perimeter of the city. I’m hearing everyone heard it and beyond. I’ve heard in the past, you could hear it all the way to Pacific Grove on a clear day,” Tomasi said.