Sauk
Sauk County Wisconsin
History
In 1840 Sauk County was officially formed. With the help of the railroad which ran through the county, and the farming that began the county started growing rapidly. By 1860 the county had grown to 19,000 residents from just a few hundred in that 20 year period. Today Sauk County is home to around 55,000 people. There are three cities, and multiple smaller communities.
Sirens
Sauk County is very interesting as far as sirens. Sauk County was home to Ted Decot, the mastermind behind the Decot Red Arrow line of warning sirens. The very first Decot Red Arrow sirens were installed here, one located in Reedsburg and the other in Sauk City where his machine shop was located. Also, Reedsburg is home to a rare Federal Signal 500 series siren. This rare breed installed in 1959 still sounds almost every day at noon as well as for fire calls.
Activation
While some sirens are activated for fire/ems purposes, all sirens except for Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells, and Lake Delton are activated by the Sauk County Sheriff Office for tests and severe weather warnings. The sirens can be activated in either the northern/southern halves of the county or both. Reedsburg, Lake Delton, and Wisconsin Dells also conduct siren tests on the same day but do them separate from rest of the system. All sirens are tested at 12:00PM every first Wednesday of the month. Reedsburg will test any time after 12:03 when the sheriff office wraps up their test. On June 21st, 2016 a Tornado Warning was issued by the NWS including the City of Reedsburg. The sirens were sounded more than 6 minutes after the warning was issued and the storm had already passed. This draws some doubts as to to how the system is handled being separate from the county. It is unknown how Lake Delton or Wisconsin Dells siren tests are handled. Some of the sirens sound every day, or most days at noon. This includes the City of Reedsburg 500 siren, La Valle's Sentry 10V, Loganville's Model 5, Rock Springs's Allertronic 4000, and the entire systems of Sauk City/Prairie du Sac.
Learn more about the history of sirens in Sauk County by clicking on a specific link below.