Work is underway in Amherstburg to get more households signed up for the town's mass notification system as part of changes to the nuclear emergency response plan.
Town council voted in July to decommission five siren sites in the town, which have been in place as part of the Nuclear Emergency Response Plan in the event of a nuclear emergency.
High replacement costs and the effectiveness of the sirens were cited as reasons to decommission the sites.
Town officials are instead undertaking an education campaign to get more people registered to Amherstburg Alerts, a system that sends messages about emergency situations as they happen and across multiple devices, including to your home phone, mobile device, email, and more.
Amherstburg fire chief Bruce Montone says Amherstburg's population is roughly 23,500 people and they have just under 11,000 contacts already in the mass alert system.
Montone says ultimately they want everyone registered, so they are advertising and trying to get the word out about the need to sign up for the alert system.
"We have a door knocker campaign where staff will be going out shortly to place door knockers, with all the information, on each and every household in the primary zone," he says.
Due to the close proximity of the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant in Newport, Michigan, Amherstburg must have a response plan and a method to alert residents in the event of a nuclear emergency.
Five siren sites are currently located in the town at 195 Texas Rd., on North Side Rd., on Centennial Park at the old arena site at 209 Victoria St. South, at 2568 Fryer and Conc. 2 and on Con. 3 South.
Click here to sign-up to Amherstburg Alerts.