City still waiting on storm sirens

By Staff
Leada DeVaney, Hartselle Enquirer
In 2000, Hartselle began working on a grant to obtain much-needed storm sirens.
Two years later, the city is still waiting.
The hold-up, according to City Administrator Ferrell Vest, is the number of other grants the city is seeking.
"We can't get more than two grants going at one time," Vest said.
"We're working to wrap up our grant on Phoenix Place (Habitat for Humanity Community). As soon as that's done, we will start working on the siren grant."
Vest said the final public hearing for Phoenix Place is Dec. 10.
Currently, Hartselle has only one emergency siren. It will take eight or nine to cover the entire area.
"We're really looking at getting a whole system," Vest said.
In the meantime, Hartselle faces one of the most dangerous weather seasons without an emergency siren. And if springs tornadoes aren't enough, winter's cold will be.
Dec. 2-6 is Winter Weather Awareness Week in Alabama. The weeks is designed to raise awareness of the dangers of cold weather.
Alabama is no stranger to the effects of winter's wrath. In 1993, 14 people died and property damage totalled more than $50 million from what became known as the "Storm of the Century."
More than 12,000 people sought shelter during that storm.
In January 1982, 20 people died, 300 were injured and 16,000 people were forced into emergency shelters due to a snow storm.
An arctic outbreak in Dec. 1981 claimed the lives of two people in unheated homes and at least 17 people suffered injuries caused by slipping and falling on ice.
At least five people perished in the extreme cold of January 1985 and, in 1989, five people died as a result of severe cold temperatures.