The Cooper County Emergency Management Agency has announced that two new Outdoor Warning Sirens will be installed beginning next week.

The first siren will be installed in Pilot Grove on Monday, May 19, weather permitting. In the event of bad weather, it will be installed later in the week. This siren will replace the old siren currently used in Pilot Grove. The old siren was electric only and would not function during a power outage. It had to be activated by the phone, which is very old technology, and slowed down the activation of the siren.

The new siren is operated by radio and operates off of batteries and has a charging system to maintain the batteries. This allows the siren to activate during power outages. The new siren also is activated by the Cooper County E911 center through radio transmission. This siren was purchased through a State Emergency Management Performance mini grant.

Cooper County EMA also announced the replacement of the Outdoor Warning Siren in the City of Bunceton. This siren is scheduled to be installed on Tuesday, May 20 weather permitting. The older Bunceton Siren was operated by electricity only and could not be upgraded to have a battery backup. This siren had been donated to Bunceton by the Boone County Office of Emergency Management when Boone County upgraded sirens in the City of Columbia in 2017.

The Cooper County EMA was able to locate a 10-year-old warning siren from a vendor at about a third of the cost of a new siren and the Bunceton City Council approved the replacement. The replacement siren will come with upgraded technology and will be the same brand and model as the Warning Sirens recently installed in Cooper County.

The Cooper County EMA started adding and upgrading the Outdoor Warning Sirens in Cooper County in 2022. The agency monitors a total of 12 sirens in Cooper County.