New sirens sounded at Indian Point Monday ahead of a new deadline for having the alarm system up and running.
Stony Point residents like Robert Reeg heard the sirens blaring for four minutes. The test was part of a new round of trials on the emergency sirens. Engineers checked audio levels of Rockland's four sirens and said the new system has some important upgrades.
"The biggest thing about the new sirens is they have battery backup so if all fails, the sirens will still work correctly," said engineer Bruce Ikelheimer.
Rockland County Office of Fire and Emergency Services officials aim to reassure residents the sirens will work at the nuclear plant.
"We were just recently at a meeting with the VP of Entergy, FEMA and other counties and they said if the sirens do not meet ... community [standards], they'll install additional sirens," said Dan Greeley with emergency services.
Greeley said he's cautiously optimist Entergy, the plant's operator, will meet a new August 24 deadline to have the system running. Entergy previously missed two deadlines. However, Greeley said he would rather the operator be late than have a failing siren system.