Kodiak weighs sounding its tsunami sirens the moment a warning hits

Kodiak's tsunami sirens would sound the instant a federal warning hits the island — no matter how far off the wave is — under a draft policy the borough's emergency planning committee takes up July 29.

The change would tell dispatchers to hit the sirens immediately on any Tsunami Warning, rather than weighing the estimated time to impact first. The reasoning is evacuation time: campers, boaters, and people in remote island cabins may need every minute they can get.

The draft also lets Kodiak sound the alarm before Washington ever weighs in. Ground shaking longer than 20 seconds, the sea suddenly pulling back from shore, a visible wall of water, or a roar like a jet would each be enough to trigger the sirens on local judgment alone.

Lesser alerts would not. A Tsunami Advisory or Watch — strong currents or an unconfirmed threat — would go out through phones, radio, and social media instead of the sirens.

One gap the committee may have to settle: the warning center can downgrade a warning to an advisory as new data arrives, and the draft doesn't say what dispatch should do if the sirens are already wailing when that happens.