Testing and repairs of
Aiea siren to continue
State officials say they believe they have fixed a malfunctioning Civil Defense siren in Aiea, but it could go off again while they do testing during the next few days.
"We don't want to cry wolf," said state Civil Defense spokesman Ray Lovell, "but we're asking people to please understand that it's a complex system and sometimes things go wrong."
Dozens of residents called in after the siren near Aiea High School went off for about three minutes just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, but there was no emergency. A siren near Mililani Technology Park also went off Wednesday.
Civil Defense technicians were testing a malfunctioning siren at Campbell Industrial Park when they punched in an incorrect code that set off the Mililani siren and then sent out a cancellation signal that triggered the Aiea siren. A cancellation signal is supposed to terminate all sirens on the island.
Technicians were trying to isolate the problem when the Aiea siren went off twice for a few seconds each after 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Technicians on the scene were able to shut it off before it blared any longer.
Technicians believed they fixed the problem by temporarily disconnecting the electrical wires from the siren yesterday. They found it to be working properly with the correct codes, but did not run a full test with the siren because they did not want to alarm residents for the third consecutive day, said Lovell.
Because they did not run a full test, there is a chance the same signal could trigger the Aiea siren when technicians continue testing other sirens around the island over the next few days.
Lovell also asked for residents not to lose faith in the siren warning system, but in the event of a real emergency, people should turn on their radios and televisions for instructions.