Clark County Sheriff's Department Clarifies False Information Regarding Tornado Sirens in Colby

Friday, June 21st, 2024 -- 1:00 PM

The Clark County Sheriff’s Department is clarifying some false information being told about the Tornado sirens in Colby not going off this Monday June 17th..

Earlier that morning the Dispatch center received notification from the National Weather Service of a Severe Thunderstorm Watch and then Severe Thunderstorm Warning. They only set off sirens for Thunderstorm Warnings in the county parks, not anywhere else in the county.

The reason for that is to avoid confusion; when people hear sirens in the cities it’s for Tornado Warnings only. Dispatch Center Policy also states that sirens are only activated for Tornado Warnings.

In this case, the dispatch center never received a Tornado Warning or even a Tornado Watch; therefore, they didn’t set off the sirens based on the information from the National Weather Service.

They only set the Tornado sirens off when a member of the Central Fire/EMS service contacted the dispatch center on the radio and said to set them off. They also confirmed with Central Fire/EMS that they went off in both the cities of Abbotsford and Colby.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.