Maui Siren Test this Friday, Following Malfunction Fix

Maui siren. File photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

Officials with the Maui County Civil Defense Agency announced that they will conduct a siren warning test at 11:45 a.m. this Friday, Sept. 20, to ensure that the system is properly working.

Unlike a regular test of the siren warning system, the goal of Friday’s test is to have no audible sounds.

“We will be replicating the cancel tones that caused mechanical sirens to produce short tones,” said Civil Defense Authorities in a notification today.

The test follows a siren system malfunction reported last week in the early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 13, in which approximately one third of the sirens on Maui and Molokaʻi unintentionally sounded.

The incident began with the malfunction of sirens in West Maui, and spread to various parts of Maui and Molokaʻi when personnel attempted to send out cancel tones.

Following the incident Civil Defense authorities released information on the malfunction saying, “The cause was traced to improper setup of control boards used on older mechanical sirens. The setup of the control boards for the Maui County mechanical sirens caused them to sound for a short period when a cancellation command was sent through the system.”

During the upcoming test, the public is asked to call the Maui County Civil Defense Agency at (808) 270-7285, only if a siren sounds in their location. Again, silence is the goal for this particular test.

As a reminder, the monthly Emergency Alert System and Siren Warning System test will take place as normally scheduled on the first working day of the month, which falls on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013 at 11:45 a.m.