JEA Employees to Pay for Siren Update

The employees of Jackson Energy Authority want to help make sure Madison County residents know about the approach of severe weather as soon as possible.

The employees are donating $20,000 to Madison County to pay for a needed update to the county's severe weather sirens. The money will be used to purchase a repeater just for the sirens, which will cause them to sound immediately when activated.

The money for the repeater is coming from the sale of Rescue House, a home JEA employees bought six years ago to provide temporary lodging for families whose own homes were damaged by fire. Employees decided to sell the house this fall when use of Rescue House declined because of increased fire safety awareness and other factors.

"We felt the money invested in the house could be used better elsewhere," says Rowland Fisher, president of the JEA Leadership Class who bought and maintained Rescue House. "We first looked at buying a tornado siren for the county with part of the Rescue House proceeds, but when we heard about the need for a repeater for the tornado sirens, we felt this was a way to help the whole county."

"Madison County is extremely grateful that the employees of JEA have stepped up to buy the much needed repeater for the emergency response system," says Madison County Mayor Jerry Gist. Recently, when tornado warnings were broadcast for Madison County, the sounding of the alarms was delayed by several minutes because of other radio talk traffic on the emergency response system.

Rescue House was a project of JEA's first employee Leadership Class. Employees made the down payment on the home and later paid off the home's loan with a series of fund-raisers, through employee payroll deduction, and with other donations. The employees furnished and maintained the home while the American Red Cross placed victims of fire in the home until they could find a more permanent solution.

With money from the sale of the house, employees are making several donations, including to the Red Cross, to Madison County for the siren repeater, and to Habitat for Humanity to help another JEA Leadership Class pay for a home employees built for a mother and her 15 children.

"Jackson Energy Authority is proud of our employees and the commitment they make not only to providing excellent utility services, but also in helping to make this a better community," says Jim Watson, senior vice president of Administration at JEA. "This gift to the county is because of their hard work and that commitment."