Does anyone know anything about the tornado sirens going off in Dallas right now? Nothing is on TV or alert radio and they’ve been going for a good five minutes.
Aaaand they just stopped.
[and then started again]
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https://www.reddit.com/r/Dallas/comments/645bmx/lake_highlands_tornado_siren/
Possible malfunction
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A friend got 911 and they didn t know, I am in Oak Cliff
south of the zoo there was several rounds and they start again
Dallas Office of Emergency Management just tweeted that it’s a malfunction. No emergency. They’re working on it.
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This is from a city coundil criterr
From City of Dallas Office of Emergency Management:
Sirens are going off city wide. THERE IS NO EMERGENCY. Seems like a system malfunction. Trying to get to the bottom of it. Apologize for the inconvenience.
Rocky Vaz
Dallas OEM
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Thanks for the info everybody. I guess we’ll hear about it on the news tomorrow…
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Yep and here it comes again almost an hour now
The good news is:
The Emergency Sirens work great! 
The bad news is:
The Emergency Sirens work. Great… 
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Worse news: They’re manually turning them all off tonight. One by one. And the WX starting Sunday PM looks interesting.
Stay alert. Watch the skies…
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I cannot bring myself to “like” this news… 
It’s good to know though! Of course, we should all know to keep our eyes on the weather updates during bad weather… but, still… 
Edit to add... Dangit, I had go back and "like" it after all, since it _is_ very helpful to know! Thanks again! :_dms_:
I expect whoever maintains the siren system will be having a VERY busy weekend to get things back in order before Sunday. But extra vigilance this go around might be wise just in case.
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My small hometown’s Fire Department would run their siren for one minute every first Monday of every month at 12:00 Noon. After years of doing this it was finally asked why? It turned out that it was a requirement by the siren manufacturer as part of their warranty. Run it at least once a month for one minute. There was a reason, just that nobody knew what it was.
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Just released that they’re blaming it on a hack.
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If you’re not familiar, to my memory they usually run the Dallas sirens on Wednesday at noon when the weather is clear just to make sure everything is 100%.
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That’s interesting.
“This is yet another serious example of the need for us to upgrade and better safeguard our city’s technology infrastructure,” Rawlings said. “It’s a costly proposition, which is why every dollar of taxpayer money must be spent with critical needs such as this in mind. Making the necessary improvements is imperative for the safety of our citizens.”
Hmm… Wonder if it will be found to be “hacked” from a COD IP… (kidding, mostly)
Also, not to throw stones, but…
Why would a person call 911 to ask if the weather sirens are really supposed to be sounding?
That is NOT a “call 911” emergency…
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Yeah, I saw the reports of a hack…
If it’s not simple blame-shifting going on, honestly props to the hackers for drawing attention to weak critical infrastructure.
It seems to me that it was done at the “most least annoying” time, Friday night around 11pm on a night with no weather within 1000 miles.
Vulnerabilities in the radio distribution network for warning signals are well known There Are at Least Three Easy Ways to Hack the Emergency Alert System - The Atlantic
And whoever did (if they did) this got everyone’s attention.
I would MUCH rather this loose nail get hammered down now than be used in the midst of a terrorist attack, or as an actual hacking attack (rather than a prank) to cause confusion during bad weather.
I suspect Putin. Retaliation for Syria missile strike…
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Methinks there’s a connection with Ras?
Is that how he can make weather as a retaliation?
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They do that first Wednesday of the month at noon around the DFW area as well. Still catches people out for some reason.
Or @ 1300, depending on DSL…
(which rather amuses me)