Honolulu Allows Residents to Adopt Sirens

Honolulu residents can adopt a tsunami siren in their neighborhood.

It’s part of a program from the Hawaiian city and county’s emergency management department aimed in part at getting citizens to take ownership of the system.

The department’s John Cummings III says people who adopt a siren are asked to report back on its status – whether it goes off during monthly testing or is vandalized. People are even able to name their sirens.

There’s a smartphone app that allows residents to do this.

Cummings says there are more than 180 sirens in the system, and estimates that eight to 12 don’t sound or don’t sound as loudly as they should during monthly testing.

In recent years, he says there’s also been an increase in vandalism to sirens.