PORT ANGELES — Replacing the tsunami siren that was knocked over in an April vehicle wreck will cost about $45,000, but no replacement timeline has been established, Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Cameron said.
The replacement estimate was forwarded to the Port Angeles Police Department as part of an official report from Sgt. John Keegan to be made part of the police file, so restitution may be considered, Cameron wrote in a Friday email.
State contractors are the only ones familiar with the installation of the tsunami sirens, so the state will be responsible for replacing it, the email stated.
“I will say, this appeared to have happened right at the point when the person that is the siren technician resigned so it’s been hard,” Cameron wrote.
“We learned this week that someone has been temporarily appointed (actually a person we have worked with in the past at the state) and (Sgt. Keegan) was going to follow up with him for what options we have,” wrote Cameron, who also serves as the county’s emergency management director.
The siren near Boat Haven on Marine Drive that’s intended to warn Port Angeles residents of an impending tsunami was toppled from its support pole during a wreck in the early morning of April 7.
David W. Jackson, 35, of Port Angeles was arrested for investigation of DUI and hit-and-run of attended property damage on April 7. He was released by the court on April 10.
County officials hope the two other sirens — one by the Morse Creek estuary and one at First and Lincoln streets — would provide adequate warning if a tsunami occurred before the one that was destroyed can be replaced.
Cameron said the siren is operated by the Emergency Management Division of the Washington Military Department, but the county kept it operational locally. It was one of 122 warning sirens scattered along coastal waters statewide.
In Clallam County, sirens are located at La Push, Neah Bay and other locations on the Makah Reservation, Hoko River, Clallam Bay and Sekiu, the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation, Port Angeles, the Dungeness and Jamestown communities north of Sequim, Blyn and Diamond Point.
People also can visit https://mil.wa.gov/alerts to learn about and sign up for other ways to get tsunami alerts.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@sound publishing.com.
