At 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 5, 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the state of New Hampshire, in conjunction with Seabrook Nuclear Power Station, will conduct an audible demonstration of all 121 of the Public Alert and Notification System (PANS) sirens that are located within Seabrook Station’s 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ). There are 27 sirens located in Massachusetts, within the communities of Amesbury, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and West Newbury, with 94 in New Hampshire.
While the PANS sirens can be used
to notify the public of any kind of emergency (i.e. weather, homeland security
event, etc.), the purpose of this December 5th demonstration is to
provide the public within the 23 Seabrook Station EPZ communities an
opportunity to again hear the siren tone that would be utilized by
Massachusetts and New Hampshire to alert the public of an emergency at Seabrook
Station.
The siren demonstration will last
from 3-5 minutes, and will be ending at approximately 12:35pm. No
public action will be necessary.
The demonstration is intended
to complement information published annually in the Emergency Public
Information Calendars for Neighbors of Seabrook Station in Massachusetts and
New Hampshire. The annual emergency
public information calendars advise the public that if they hear the PAN siren
tone, for three to five minutes, tune to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) radio
station for their state (93.7 FM, 92.5 FM, 98.5 FM, 1030 AM, and 1450 AM in MA;
97.5 FM in NH) for specific information and directions. The demonstration is intended to reinforce
that message.
The siren demonstration, conducted
by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), in conjunction with
the New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management
(NHHS & EM) and the utility, is in compliance with the regulations of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to ensure the effectiveness of the
public notification system.
-more-
Notifications of this event have
been disseminated to the public through local stakeholder meetings, mailings to
households, traditional Media outlets, Social Media (Facebook and Twitter),
and on Wednesday morning via ping4alerts! (MEMA’s new mobile communications
app for alerting the public in emergencies and disasters).
The
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is the state agency
responsible for coordinating federal, state, local, voluntary and private
resources during emergencies and disasters in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. MEMA provides leadership to: develop plans for effective
response to all hazards, disasters or threats; train emergency personnel to
protect the public; provide information to the citizenry; and assist
individuals, families, businesses and communities to mitigate against, prepare
for, and respond to and recover from emergencies, both natural and man made.
For additional information about MEMA and Preparedness, go to www.mass.gov/mema.
Also,
continue to follow MEMA updates on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MassEMA;
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MassachusettsEMA; and YouTube: www.youtube.com/MassachusettsEMA. Download the free ping4alert! app
to your Smartphone to receive important weather alerts and messages from
MEMA. Easy instructions are available at www.mass.gov/mema/mobileappp.
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