Lakehurst Emergency Siren Installation Could Begin in November

Work on the installation of an emergency siren in Lakehurst could begin next month now that funding and approval have been secured. 

The borough is without a town-wide alert system, though it does have other methods of alerting residents of danger such as reverse 9-1-1 phone calls and public address systems on emergency vehicles. The reactivation of the siren has been advocated by emergency service officials. 

Getting the system back on-line includes refurbishing the original siren — at no additional cost to Lakehurst by borough employees — and having it installed on a pole donated by JCP&L. The siren will be placed at the  on Proving Ground Road.

The borough's fire chief Ed Seaman located a company that will do the installation work for $2,260, a fee that will be shouldered among the borough's fire, first aid and Office of Emergency Management.

"As I understand it we're not going to see any action until next month simply because we have to transfer funds for [the emergency operations center] and all of the departments to ensure that there are equal shares in there," said James Davis, councilman and public safety board member.

Clerk Bernadette Dugan confirmed to Seaman that the funds for the siren will be available after Nov. 3. 

The borough's first aid squad and OEM have approved the installation of the siren, said councilmember Steven Oglesby, who also serves on the public safety board.

Seaman said that the fire department has a location selected for the pole and the 

Oglesby had said that the borough had three working sirens, but "cost was always a factor in why we didn't get them hooked back up." 

Oglesby said that there would be a test period and if all goes well, a second siren would be considered next year.

"Between two sirens, you'd probably be able to hear that throughout town," he said.

The fire and first aid departments, as well as the office of emergency management are all behind it.

"All of the agencies would like to see it implemented," Oglesby said. "The siren would be a good thing."

The siren would be placed on an automatic timer system which would turn it off between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. as to not disturb residents, according to Oglesby.

"This would activate for fire and first aid calls," he said.

Under the old system, the series of siren blasts would indicate the type of emergency.