CHRC tests emergency warning sirens at the Gemfields

Council installed two emergency warning sirens to communicate early flood or bushfire warnings to the local community and visitors.

Central Highlands Regional Council will be testing the two warning sirens at Sapphire for emergencies such as floods.

An emergency warning siren will echo through parts of the Gemfields as authorities test the systems are working.

Central Highlands Regional Council will be testing its emergency warning sirens at Sapphire and Graves Hill on Wednesday, June 9 between 11am and 12pm.

People in the vicinity will hear the sirens being activated one time only in the scheduled test period and should not be alarmed.

The test will include an emergency warning signal tone followed by a voice message saying, “this is only a test, I repeat, this is only a test. Attention, attention, this is only a test”.

The tone and message announcement will last up to two minutes.

Within a three-kilometre radius, the sirens’ volume ranges from 70 to 110 decibels. As a comparison, a vacuum cleaner is 70 decibels and a car horn from one metre away is about 110 decibels.

In 2020, council installed two emergency warning sirens to communicate early flood or bushfire warnings to the local community and visitors in the Sapphire and Graves Hill areas.

Council will be testing the sirens about mid-year annually.

In the future, if sirens are activated outside of testing, people are urged to act immediately and evacuate as quickly as possible to a safe place.

People are also urged to visit council’s Emergency Management Dashboard for current information and follow advice from emergency services personnel.