ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Mayor Cara Spencer has placed City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) Commissioner Sarah Russell on paid administrative leave pending an external investigation into Friday’s failure to activate outdoor warning sirens during a tornado warning.
The move follows revelations that Russell and other CEMA staff were attending a workshop at a separate location when the storm hit, leaving no one at the agency’s headquarters to manually activate the sirens.
A breakdown in communication with the Fire Department further delayed the alert, resulting in a total failure of the city’s emergency notification system during the storm.
“CEMA exists, in large part, to alert the public to dangers caused by severe weather, and the office failed to do that in the most horrific and deadly storm our City has seen in my lifetime,” Mayor Spencer said in a statement released with audio of the incident.
The mayor’s office also released documents showing inconsistencies in the city’s emergency activation protocols. A standard operating procedure written in 2021 by Russell placed primary responsibility with the Fire Department’s headquarters, while CEMA’s website reflected a protocol where either CEMA or the Fire Department could activate the system.
Fire Department takes control of siren activation protocol
In response, Mayor Spencer signed an executive order Tuesday assigning exclusive responsibility for siren activation to the St. Louis Fire Department, which will now oversee the system from a location staffed 24 hours a day.
Effective immediately, Captain John Walk of the Fire Department will lead CEMA operations, with additional incident response support provided by Metro West Fire Protection District’s Michael D. Thiemann starting Wednesday morning.
To ensure system reliability, the Fire Department conducted a test of the sirens Tuesday and found the activation button at its headquarters was not functioning. The sirens were instead activated from CEMA’s office, and repairs to the button began the same afternoon. A citywide test will follow the repairs to assess siren performance and identify damage from Friday’s storm.
Following the failure, the city is moving quickly to clarify roles, repair systems, and prevent further breakdowns in emergency communication.
