Moultrie Fire Chief Jeff Thibodeau sounded the severe weather alert for the first time in a long time last Thursday. Now, they’ll be testing it every Saturday at noon to prepare for future severe weather.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Moultrie Fire Department let the city’s severe weather alert siren blare for the first time in a long time on April 23 as the tornado swept through Colquitt County.

Fire Chief Jeff Thibodeau said he’d only found out about it recently, but now it’ll be tested every Saturday at noon to make sure it’s in working order

“There’s not a whole lot that can go wrong with those things,” he said. “You could test it today, turn it off and something could happen to it as soon as you turn it off. You just never know.”

It’s about giving the people an advantage against the weather. Thibodeau asked firefighters when was the last time the siren was used, but no one knew.

 “A lot of smaller towns or tornado prone areas usually have severe weather alert sirens, so one of the guys asked me if I wanted to sound the siren,” he said. “So I said ‘Shoot, yeah. That’s what it’s for.’”

The siren, which sits on the Municipal building’s roof, hasn’t been tested for its range yet, but a battalion chief told Thibodeau it can be heard down to the old YMCA building south of Moultrie.

“But the way sound waves and everything works, the weather conditions, wind, humidity all play an effect on the distance of sound waves,” Thibodeau said. 

On clear days, the townspeople will be able to hear it more than on a windy day, for instance. 

Case in point, the chief’s bagpipes. Bagpipes can be heard from a mile away on a clear day, but if the wind’s blowing toward the instrument, people as close as 20 feet away may struggle to hear.

He’s sure people at the city square can hear the siren, but the test on Saturday, May 2, will yield the official results. 

Other than that, the MFD will be taking precautions to sound the siren in the event of a warning.

“Anytime there’s severe weather and we get confirmed tornados coming in the area, we’re going to sound it,” Thibodeau said. “I’d rather sound it and be a little bit too cautious than not sound it and we need to.”