The city is installing a network of 12 sirens that will blare warnings and give specific instructions in case of an emergency. (photo courtesy of the city of Beverly Hills)

Crews have begun installing sirens across the city of Beverly Hills as part of an outdoor warning system that will be one of the first of its kind, emergency manager Meena Janmohamed said.

The City Council began pursuing the warning system following wildfires in 2018 and 2019 that devastated nearby communities, though the network of 12 sirens will be used to keep residents safe in many types of disasters, Janmohamed said.

“The outdoor warning system is meant to be another tool in our notification toolkit,” Janmohamed added. “We in the city take a multi-hazard approach to planning, so while primarily the City Council directed staff to look at this for a wildfire alert and warning … if there were, you know, a need to shelter in place or some sort of other notification, it could serve any purpose that might be necessary as it comes up.”

How the system is used will depend on the situation, but in general, fire, police or city management officials would send an initial alert from the sirens, followed by more specific directions for actions to be taken, Janmohamed said. Residents would then be directed to seek more information on the city’s website, social media pages and Nixle alerts, she added.

“The current systems of communications are fragile,” Mayor Julian Gold said. “We’ve seen a number of outages due to [Southern California Edison’s] issues and have had a number of issues as they related to Spectrum, so this is just a way the city has to communicate with residents in addition to the traditional news or phone message.”

Nine sirens have been installed so far, and staff expect to install the remaining three by the end of August, engineering services manager Samer Elayyan said. Installation is being led by construction company Syblon Reid, which was awarded a $1.37 million contract in September 2022.

Though there is no firm timeline for when training sessions will occur, the city will conduct an extensive outreach campaign once completion of the system is “in sight,” Janmohamed said.

“In all of our … disaster plans, we work very closely with our stakeholders and partners within and around the city,” she added. There is a potential for some audible spill over into those surrounding jurisdictions. And we also know regardless of audible alerts, if there’s something happening in our city, that will trigger the activation of these sirens that would have an impact on those jurisdictions as well. So before during and after [an emergency], it is always important to us and our partners to work together to kind of integrate our plans and our processes.”

For information, visit beverlhills.org/sirens.