BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
FORT MONMOUTH — Some neighbors of the Army base were startled to hear loud speakers on the fort grounds blasting out messages warning of a host of emergencies ranging from an approaching tornado to a chemical spill.
The messages blared from five speakers strategically placed around the base as part of a test on Friday of Fort Monmouth’s warning system, according to Timothy L. Rider, a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s Communications-Electronics Com-mand. He said each message was accompanied by a disclaimer explaining it was only a test.
But not everyone got the complete message with the disclaimer.
Capt. George Jackson of the Eatontown police said the police department received a number of phone calls, although he did not know exactly how many, from alarmed residents.
“We did get some [calls],” he said. “But we had been forewarned. They had sent us a teletype to warn us about the drills.”
As a result, he said, police were able to reassure concerned residents.
“It was loud,” Jackson said, explaining that he happened to be outside when the testing began. “It was very audible.”
Rider said that, in addition to Eatontown, the emergency messages were heard by many residents of the other towns surrounding the fort, including Tinton Falls, Shrewsbury, Little Silver and Oceanport.
“We heard that people as far away as Red Bank heard it, which surprised us,” he said.
Rider said the messages that were aired were pre-formatted and covered such emergencies as a chemical release, an emergency evacuation, a tornado warning, a hurricane warning, a severe thunderstorm warning, a winter weather warning and a flash flood warning. He said the loud speaker equipment was new last year and the first test of it occurred Dec. 17.
The equipment will continue to be tested annually, according to Rider.