fallout shelter locations near me wa state

Know of a local fallout sign near you? Send us a picture. In Madison County, for example, the emergency managers can set off a siren for a tornado or a nuclear attack, all from the same command console. However, they once carried the charge to protect people from a nuclear bomb. Locally, Emergency Management Agencies are also set up on a county-by-county basis, and its these EMA offices that sound off the tornado sirens during severe weather. “Most current Emergency Management Agencies formerly were Civil Defense Agencies,” says Madison County Emergency Plans Coordinator Jared Cassidy.Įmergency management agencies can span as large as the federal government - particularly FEMA - to the state level, including the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. Since then, the Office of Civil Defense evolved into what is now known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. In Madison County alone, approximately 150 locations are marked as fallout shelters, designations that were originally established in the 1960s but continue to serve - albeit as a precautionary measure - five decades later.įrom Civil Defense to Emergency Management: A brief course through historyĭuring the Cold War, the Office of Civil Defense offered advice on what to do during a nuclear attack, including “duck and cover” drills that urged anyone who sees a detonated flash to stop what they are doing, duck under some sort of cover, and to face the ground while protecting their heads and faces. The sign designates that the location serves as a fallout shelter, a place to seek refuge from radioactive material falling from the sky during a nuclear attack. This fallout sign is still posted inside the Madison County Courthouse. – If you’ve ever taken a stroll through downtown Huntsville, past the Madison County Courthouse, you may have noticed a relic from the Cold War that is still a functioning beacon today. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.

Fallout shelter locations near me wa state