BRODHEAD — City of Brodhead Police Chief Brian Raupp posted a press release to his department’s Facebook page on Aug. 9, letting the public know that during the severe storms that resulted in tornado warnings in the nearby area on Aug. 5, sirens in the city failed to sound.

A storm moving along the Wisconsin-Illinois border produced a tornado near Oneco and Orangeville in Illinois, and continued eastward towards Rock City in Illinois, and Juda, Brodhead and Avon in Wisconsin. The storm dissapated not long after, but warning sirens blasted in several nearby communities.

“(S)irens in the City of Brodhead were discovered to not be working properly,” Raupp said. 

He said there was a fault in the system if it was activated from the Green County Sheriff’s Department. When activated from the Brodhead Police Department, the sirens functioned properly.

“Green County is actively working with their IT Dept. and Communications provider to identify the problem,” Raupp said.

A contingency plan was quickly developed, he added.

“Officers on duty at the Brodhead Police Department have been trained on how to set off the Tornado Sirens from the console here in Brodhead when our dispatchers are not on duty. There will be additional testing of the Tornado Sirens in the upcoming weeks as we work to correct the issues,” Raupp said.

On Aug. 12, the sirens were tested once again.