The 2025 storm season went out with a bang.

It just didn’t go out with a roar of a siren.

The storm system that brought Kingfisher County more than two inches of rain in some spots also delivered a tornado warning.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the southern part of Kingfisher County just before 10 p.m.

A severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was five miles east of Watonga and moving east at a blistering 60 miles per hour.

Several Kingfisher residents had their eyes glued on their TVs and were being alerted by their favorite weathermen.

Most of them and thousands others heard the alert systems go off on their smart phones.

But those living inside of Kingfi sher did not hear a storm siren.

It wasn’t due to a lack of effort. “We tried to activate them,” said Fire Chief Ryan Gibson. “But they wouldn’t work. We didn’t know why then and we still don’t know.”

Once it’s agreed to activate the sirens, it’s the duty of the fire department staff to do so as the activation system is housed there.

Gibson was attending a class in Oklahoma City, but said he was on the phone with the fire station to ensure everything was done correctly.

It was, he said, but the sirens didn’t work.

The electric department inspected the sirens on Wednesday and each of them had power, Gibson said.

Radios used to activate them were checked on Thursday. Gibson said they, too, were functioning properly.

Gibson said the sirens themselves will now be checked out to see where the malfunction could have occurred.

“But the truth is, we may never know why they didn’t work,” he said.

One thing is certain, Gibson added.

“They’re old,” he said. “The system is old and if the electricity is out, we can’t activate them.”

Although residents with Kingfi sher Electric utilities did lose power as the storms made their way through, there was still electricity when the attempts were made to activate the sirens.

In April 2024, not long after Gibson and Kingfisher County Emergency Management Director Ryan Deatherage took over their respective positions, they inspected the six sirens inside of city limits.

One - located near the school’s track complex on 13th Street worked properly. Another one, near the water tower in Meeker Addition, worked “halfway,” according to Deatherage.

But four didn’t work. They were located at the county fairgrounds, between Admire and Miles near Seventh Street (behind City Cafe), on the cellular tower at Pioneer Telephone headquarters (Robberts and Sixth) and near the city’s Street Department building near Bowman and Third.

A contractor was hired to assess the sirens and determined which sirens could be repaired and also provided an estimate for a new system. The price tag was more than $200,000.

Gibson said a new system wouldn’t be dependent on working electricity and would be activated by the National Weather Service.

Gibson said they’ll continue to try to test the sirens each Saturday at noon.

The fire department was unable to do so the weekend before the tornado warning because it was raining in Kingfisher.

“We can only do the tests on clear days,” he said.

In the meantime, both Gibson and Deatherage remind citizens that storm sirens weren’t designed for - and should not be - the alert system they use.

“Those are there to alert people who are outside,” said Gibson. “That’s they’re intended use. Even though a lot of people can hear them in their homes, they weren’t designed for that.”

Gibson and Deatherage encourage citizens to have multiple ways to be weather aware, which includes the use of smart phones and weather radios.

“It is important to remember that storm sirens are just one source of information and it is recommended to have multiple methods to stay informed about potential severe weather situations,” Deatherage said when speaking to Kingfisher Lions Club last year.