LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – Emergency sirens are most often associated with Tornado warnings.
"I thought it was a civil siren because the weather wasn't terrible at the time. I really didn't know what. It wasn't 12 o'clock so I thought it was just strange that it went off at that time of day," Greg Wheatley, a Jeffersontown resident said.
Messages and phone calls asking if there was a tornado flooded the WHAS11 newsroom but as we found out on Friday with the chemical spill in Jeffersontown, the sirens are used for multiple cases of emergency.
"The outdoor warning sirens are not only for any kind of inclement weather they're also for things of this nature like chemical spills in specific areas. So because there was a chemical spill, we had an evacuation order, and the shelter in place, we wanted to make sure people in the area were notified," Jody Duncan, the MetroSafe Public Information Officer said.
"I just thought it was something else. There has been a lot of storms and different things and we just work right through it anyway, so I just didn't think anything of it," Mary Evitts another Jeffersontown resident said.
The J'Town quadrant were the ones notified of the emergency but because there is some overlap, part of the east end and downtown also heard the sirens, even though the warning was for those within a mile of the spill.
"A shelter in place" means to go in and stay indoors. Close windows and doors and turn off your heat or air conditioning, then to watch the news or listen to the radio for further information.
"They should definitely call the non-emergency line to see if there is any additional information that they need. That is why we do call them outdoor warning sirens because it is not just for that inclement weather. They can also call metro call, 311, when the call went out, I made sure they had all the information that they needed," Duncan said.
MetroSafe has said in the past that the sirens are to alert people who are outside, to get inside.
MetroSafe also offers text alerts which they call Code Red which range from weather alerts to evacuation notices.
