BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It's a sound that could save lives — the Hewitt Fire Department added lightning alert sirens to the two parks in the city.
They were implemented to help inform the public of dangerous weather.
"They may not be watching the weather very closely and it allows us to give an alert to the park that there is lightning in the area, and that it could be a risk," said Chief Jonathan Christian of the Hewitt Fire Department.
The sirens are hooked to the National Weather Service, and they go off when lightning is within the warning polygon covering the city, which extends 10 miles.
"If the actual city of Hewitt falls into that polygon, then the sirens will be set off automatically," Christian said.
The previous sirens around the city were over 20 years old and had to be manually operated.
The Hewitt Fire Department tells me their system was replaced in May, and the lightning alerts went into effect two weeks ago.
"What that does is give you a heads up, because lightning can move a lot faster than a storm can, and so it can reach out a lot further," Christian said.
Chief Christian says no one has been hit by lightning in Hewitt in recent years, but some houses in the area have.
The department tests the alarms on the first Friday of each month at 10 a.m. — they say this helps to keep batteries charged and makes sure that everything is running smoothly.
