Benbrook to check emergency sirens after one started for no apparent reason
BENBROOK, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Benbrook will check all seven of its outdoor emergency warning sirens after one started sounding early Wednesday morning. It's at least the fourth reported instance since November of sirens turning on for no apparent reason, alarming residents across the city and in neighborhoods of southwest Fort Worth.
The siren on Highway 377 near Z Boaz Park turned on sometime after 3 a.m. Wednesday, according to Benbrook Fire Chief Tommy Davis.
It sounded for several minutes, according to people who live in the neighborhood next to the siren, then stopped.
It came back on a second time, this time sounding continuously until a fire department crew was able to disconnect a battery to get it to stop.
"And as a mom, you panic," said Amy Wines, whose house is within feet of the siren. "What's going on? There's no storms, no rain, no wind, what's happening? That's kind of where I'm frustrated."
People in the area first reported an unexpected siren in the early morning hours of Nov. 1. The sound was also unusual, adding to the eeriness of the situation as it was Halloween night.
At the time, Fort Worth believed it was one of their sirens that may have been to blame. A computer report showed the siren near Southwest Blvd and Vickery Blvd was having trouble. However the system also creates a registry when sirens sound, and in this case it didn't appear that particular siren had ever gone off.
The city still replaced some parts, even speculating a lizard may have climbed into the box, and caused an electrical short. The problem was believed to be fixed, when sirens started sounding again November 6 and 7, including once in the middle of the day.
Davis said his city had another siren on the south end of the city that malfunctioned during that same time period, in the middle of the night. Neither city could say though if it was that siren that may have been to blame all along.
When batteries on the installations get low, Davis said, it could create a malfunction. He believed it could also cause the tone to change, with the equipment being capable of producing different sounds depending on what was wanted.
In 2019, Lancaster and Desoto blamed a hacker for setting off multiple sirens in the middle of the night. There was no sign of anything like that, Davis said, in this case.
Fort Worth fire spokesman Craig Trojacek confirmed the city checked its system again Wednesday, and there were no signs that any Fort Worth sirens had active overnight.