Don’t Be Alarmed by Wailing Sirens

All 50 sirens that make up the emergency warning system for the San Onofre Nuclear power plant will sound off in tests twice between 10 a.m. and noon today.

The sirens are installed on poles throughout the cities of San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano, as well as in parts of the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. Each test blast will last between two and five minutes, said David Barron, a spokesman for Southern California Edison Co., which operations the station.

The sirens are required by federal law, Barron noted. In the event of an emergency, the sirens are meant to advise everyone to tune to a radio or television station for information.

Although this is the eighth year most of the sirens have been tested, Barron said he expects some confusion when the 120-decibel wails begin.

“We’ve mailed 81,000 postcards and distributed tens of thousands of leaflets to hotels, motels, hospitals, radio, cable television, even to state parks to try and inform some of the homeless. But we’ll still get a few calls,” Barron said. “Hopefully, it will only be a handful.”