CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Every school in Kanawha County now has a weather radio to notify administrators of extreme weather conditions from the National Weather Service.
“These radios will enable them to trigger their emergency weather response as quickly as they possibly can,” said Briana Wilson, communications director for Kanawha County Schools.
According to the school system’s security department, 75 radios were installed last week.
“Dr. (Ron) Duerring, superintendent here at Kanawha County Schools, had seen a need to continue to advance our safety measures in our schools,” Wilson said.
The radios were placed in the main office area of every school.
“They don’t broadcast every emergency test,” Wilson explained. “They’re programmed so that they only broadcast in the case of extreme weather.”
Extreme weather includes conditions such as snow, rain, tornadoes and more.
The Kanawha County Commission provided a grant to fund the weather radios. The county’s Emergency Management Department facilitated the project.
“The Kanawha County Commission and our Emergency Management Department were very pleased to be a part of this very important project with Kanawha County Schools which will help alert faculty and students of weather emergencies in the future,” Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said in a news release.
Radios were used for the first time during the county’s scheduled shelter-in-place drill last week.