Springfield alderman calls for fire chief's resignation over lack of tornado sirens

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - A Springfield alderman called on the fire chief to resign after tornado sirens were not activated during severe storms last week.

Sirens did go off Thursday night, but were not activated Wednesday evening despite the National Weather Service later reporting an EF-1 tornado touched down in the city.

Springfield Fire Chief Nick Zummo said the city has four criteria to activate the city's sirens, and none were met that night.

"You're lucky nobody is dead. I said it the other night, and I'll say it again — you need to be put in a new position chief. And I'll continue to say that. You let us down," said Alderman Larry Rockford.

Zummo said he is now looking at other possible alert systems so one official is not responsible for activating the sirens.

"As part of the after-action review process, the Springfield Fire Department is also looking into an automated siren activated system. While a specific system has not been selected, the concept would allow sirens to activate automatically when predetermined criteria are met," Zummo said.

CWLP's chief engineer shared last week that his crews worked quickly to get power restored to about 500 homes in less than 24 hours.