NORTH WEBSTER — Tippecanoe Township and the town of North Webster are making progress in efforts to expand the number of tornado sirens in the area.

A few weeks ago, the township put out a plea asking property owners if they would allow sirens to be placed on their utility poles.

"Yeah, I've had a couple of property owners reach out to me and we've got a couple of sites identified already," said Chris Francis, the Tippecanoe Township trustee.

Francis said that the area has been a bit of a dead zone in terms of siren coverage and that officials committed to improve coverage when the fire territory was established a few years ago.

Two sirens and a backup already exist, but Francis said they want to expand to areas outside of the town.

"I'd like to start west. Ideally, are most populated areas we would hit first. So the Tippy Lake area and then also the Barbee chain," Francis said.

The fire territory has budgeted money for the sirens over the next few years but has come up against some big expenditures including the purchase of an ambulance, he said.

Cooperation from landowners doesn't obligate them to any costs.

"If we could do one a year, that would be great, if we do two, that would be good, but we're looking at about $30,000 per siren and pole plus and then of course there's a utility bill every month on top of that," he said.

To get involved, check out the township's Facebook page here.

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