Fail safe systems failed. That is how officials explained the fact that the storm sirens didn’t sound in Great Bend during Sunday night’s city-ravaging thunderstorm.

At about 6:05 p.m. Sunday, Barton County Dispatch was asked by the Great Bend Police Department and Barton County Sheriff’s Office to activate the storm sirens, 911 Director Dena Popp said. The 911 dispatcher on duty hit the activation button multiple times and the signal went out but was not received by the repeater housed in Great Bend’s Fire Station 2 on West 10th St.

On Monday, while investigating why the sirens did not sound, it was confirmed that the dispatcher attempted 10 activations of the sirens with no success, Popp said. These attempts are recorded on a recording device utilized for verification and accuracy at 911. 

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that with the power outage, there were two back-up power equipment failures that occurred at the repeater site, she said. First was a battery issues and second was the automatic transfer issues to the generator. 

Popp said the batteries were too weak to operate the repeater. This was the county’s responsibility and new batteries were installed Monday afternoon.

With the generator, after the batteries failed, operation of the repeater didn’t transfer to the generator, she said. This is the city’s responsibility and it is looking into how to fix this.

The sirens are tested at noon every Tuesday, Popp said. But, these tests take place when the power is on, so the weaknesses in the system were not discovered.

The sirens are not for tornadoes only, Popp said. Law enforcement may request they be sounded for any severe weather event they deem a threat to residents. 

The 911 Department, located at 1300 Stone in Great Bend, is the only location for the switch to activate the sirens, Popp said. Barton Community College has its own siren and officials there are responsible for activating that.