Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995                   TAG: 9509210064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SURRY                                LENGTH: Medium

SURRY'S SIRENS WERE SILENT, AND NOBODY WAS WARNED

A report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency said none of the 61 sirens within 10 miles of the station sounded for several hours, and the alternate alerting system designed for that eventuality was ineffective.

The state Department of Emergency Services, Virginia Power and emergency personnel from surrounding counties participated in the drill.

State emergency officials failed to issue a message to localities to begin the backup warning system, in which local authorities warn people by loudspeaker. Some locales started the warnings on their own, but many instructions on how to do it were inaccurate, the report said.

Instructions issued in a news release by the state were not accurate, complete and timely, the report said. The news release had no information on evacuation routes, did not identify shelters by landmarks and did not tell people what precautions to take while taking shelter in their homes.

Federal officials made Virginia Power and state officials partially repeat the drill Aug. 2, and that was successful, FEMA official Janet Lamb said.

George Urquhart, acting director of the plans division of the Virginia Department of Emergency Services, could not be reached for comment on the report.

The state's procedures for backup alerting were rewritten after the June drill, Lamb said. Updated maps also were provided and additional instructions were given to alerting teams, she said. And Virginia officials accomplished the retest in 60 days - half the time allowed.