3 areas of Del. to hear emergency sirens test Tue. morning

First Staters living in the area north from Delaware City, west of Middletown, and south of Woodland Beach should expect to hear emergency sirens for a few minutes Tuesday morning. 

The Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA), the Delaware State Police and the Public Service Enterprise Group will conduct a quarterly test of the Salem/Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Stations Alert and Notification system at 10:45 a.m.

“These tests are part of an ongoing program between DEMA and PSEG that continually monitors the integrity of the siren system, so we are able to alert the public within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone of the Salem/Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station [in New Jersey] in the event of an actual emergency,” said  Patrick O’Connell, DEMA’s planning supervisor for the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program.

There are 37 sirens in Delaware located within that 10-mile radius.

Sirens will be activated for three to five minutes, followed by a test message of the Emergency Alert System on local radio stations. 

Those tested are the same ones used to alert the public in the event of an actual emergency at either the Salem or Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Stations.

In the event of an actual emergency, there would be a series of a steady three to five minutes of siren sounds that would alert citizens to turn their radio to an Emergency Alert System station for critical emergency information or instructions.

“Delaware’s emergency sirens are an important outdoor warning system used to alert those who are outside that something dangerous is happening and that they should go indoors and get more information,” O’Connell said.

Delaware is one of 32 states with populations that live within 10 miles of a commercial nuclear reactor.