Wood County will test emergency sirens tomorrow at noon, Brad Gilbert, of the Wood County Emergency Management Agency said this morning.

“We decided we need to test our countywide outdoor warning system,” he said. “Just as a precaution, we want to make sure everything is working correctly with all the sirens.”

Gilbert said a countywide siren test will be conducted Thursday, June 10 at noon, when all emergency sirens in Wood County will be activated.

“We’ve had some of the sirens looked at by companies, but until we actually turn them on, we want to make sure they’re being activated,” he said.

Gilbert called the response by volunteers yesterday “fantastic,” with more than 650 coming out, getting registered and completing “missions.” “There was a lot of great work from great people happening yesterday,” he said.

The big push continues to be on removal of debris, Gilbert said. “Debris will be trucked out of the village and the township areas throughout the day today and probably into tomorrow as well,” he said. “In this recovery mode, we’re trying to get people back to normal as fast as possible."

Arrests made
Also this morning, Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer expressed concerns about people who are curious coming out to see the tornado damage. “We don’t need anyone here who doesn’t need to be here,” he said. “We have an army of dump trucks and loaders and people from various agencies and areas helping us get this debris out of here, and we need people who don’t absolutely need to be here to stay out of here."

Hummer added that there were three arrests overnight – two for looting and one for inducing panic. “A gentleman decided to make a pop-bottle bomb and it exploded in the northern end of the township," he said. “We got the call as gunshots fired. Our resources had to go up there and deal with it so he was arrested.

“I will tell the folks that our ignorant behavior tolerance supply is running low and if we have issues with people, they’re going to be arrested," the chief said. “Don’t come her to loot. Don’t come here to scrap.”

Fire Chief Todd Walters reported that things seem to be getting a little bit back to normalcy. “We’re still manning our fire stations 24 hours a day and utilizing our mutual aid,” he said.  

Walters urged anyone with specific needs to dial the United Way’s 2-1-1.

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