Tinker to test sirens with neighboring communities moving to Saturday noon, beginning this weekend Published April 1, 2011 By Brion Ockenfels Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Beginning this weekend, residents on and off base will begin hearing Tinker's emergency sirens in concert with local communities at noon on Saturdays, a big change from Wednesday noon tests. In early March, Emergency Managers from the Central Oklahoma Emergency Management Association announced participating cities and counties to include Bethel Acres, Del City, Edmond, Midwest City, Moore, Norman, Oklahoma City, Tecumseh, Yukon, Canadian County and Oklahoma County would coordinate activation, operation and testing of outdoor warning systems between eleven jurisdictions in Central Oklahoma. Lola Burwell , chief, Wartime & Contingency Plans Division said, "the change will not preclude base officials from using the system on other days to support exercises or conducting specific tests. According to Ms. Burwell, test of the Outdoor Warning System, known as Giant Voice could last a little longer than surrounding communities due to the mix of siren and voice tone tests. Tinker's Giant Voice has the capacity to sound a siren or inform personnel who are outside to take specific actions through a state-of-the-art voice activation component built into the system. Voice commands could be used to warn personnel on the airfield or participants on base engaged in outdoor recreational activities to the potential threat of lightning or high winds, Ms. Burwell said. Outdoor warning systems like Tinker's Giant Voice are designed to alert people who are outdoors and are not designed to penetrate buildings to alert those inside structures. Who needs to know? Anytime a person hears a siren they should assume there is a threat, take shelter and seek more information. "And inform those who are in the immediate area to do the same," Ms. Burwell said. Oklahoma City Emergency Manager, Frank Barnes, recommends people also use National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration All-Hazards Radio with Specific Area Message Encoding or "SAME" technology as a good method of receiving warning messages indoors. Additionally, warnings can be received from radio, television, subscription services that use text messages, e-mails, and telephone messages and other forms of social media. "Those who are logged in to Tinker's network receive warning notifications through an AtHoc pop-up message on their computer screen, said Ms. Burwell. And the base will remain consistent with the state and local policies. "Specifically, we will not test under the following conditions," said Ms. Burwell. 1. When the National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm/Tornado Watch or Warning for the Central Oklahoma region. 2. Imminent threat of severe weather. 3. Freezing temperature below 32 degrees F.