Robert Cohen, Director of the Townships Office of Emergency Management recently demonstrated a new low-power AM radio station to the Townships Board of Trustees and area response partners. Similar to systems in use today on highways or major visitor attractions, this system, when activated can be used to provide residents and others in the area, vital information related to disaster recovery programs, locations of sand bags and sand during periods of floods, what to do after a flood or storm or how the township will handle debris pickup following storms/disasters. The system may also be used to advise residents and visitors to our area about special Township Activities such as our upcoming Garage Sale in October. We will be able to give those attending direction for parking or hours of operations.

According to Director Cohen, this system is not designed as an alerting system although, if significant notice is available for a pending event such as the one we had several years ago regarding flooding along the Des Plaines River, it could be used for that. Instead, its design is to keep residents informed about Township activities in the aftermath of a disaster or significant weather event.  

Residents will be able to tune their radio to 1350 AM and be able to hear our broadcast which we are intending to do in multiple languages thus reaching a much greater number of our population. Residents should start the practice that whenever there has been a significant storm event or disaster in the area, they should turn their radios on and to 1350 AM on the dial.

As a part of this new program, we will eventually have some signs put out around the township with the radio information on it as well as on the Townships marquee on Ballard.

The Office of Emergency Management is very excited over this new program and the benefits it will bring to our community.

The system went 'Live" on September 1 in conjunction with National Preparedness Month.