By just pushing a couple of buttons, Director of Shawnee County Emergency Management, Dave Sterbenz, tested the emergency alarm sirens Monday.

Citizens reported that 20 of the 72 emergency sirens didn't work last week during a tornado warning.

After checking in with local departments, and the call center, all 72 sirens are given the OK.

"From what we can tell from the tests, they have all worked,"
Sterbenz said. He also said that he now knows why the sirens didn't work during last week's severe weather.

"We had two repeaters on at the same time," he said. "We were sending out a double signal."

The sirens only go off when they recognize the signal, and some of the more sensitive sirens didn't recognize it when it was being sent twice - something Emergency Management said won't be happening again.

"It gives us a sense of security...." said Doris Brown, who lives by one of the sirens that was in question.... "To know that they will keep testing until they know they all work."

Emergency Management now has eight new sirens that send an alert if they aren't working.

The team replaces two sirens a year with this new model, at a cost of $20,000 each.