The next time the tornado sirens blow, local residents should not head for the Water Treatment Plant looking for shelter from the storm. Instead, the city of Nevada and the National Weather Service says residents should stay where they are and "shelter in place."

Gary Herstein, director of public safety, said last week that after meeting with its insurance company, the city has decided to no longer use the Water Treatment Plant as a community storm shelter because of chemicals stored in and around the property.

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While the Water Treatment Plant is a solid building with a basement, it also has tanks of chlorine gas that is used to treat the water, as well as caustic soda and other chemicals that are harmful to those who come in contact with them.

Herstein said that the presence of chlorine gas, which is deadly, has always concerned him.

The gas is odorless and heavier than air, which means that in case of a leak it will go into the basement of the building, which was used for a storm shelter.

Although chlorine is green in color, by the time it would be visible, it would be too late, he said.

"It would be a hideous death," he said.

"Handicapped people were taken right by the chlorine storage room," Herstein said.

There also is a 7,500-gallon underground water storage tank adjacent to the building that could leak and flood the basement.

Herstein said that while the building is well constructed, if it should collapse it would be impossible to get people out of the basement.

"There is a large potential for loss of life," he said.

In addition to the hazards at the plant, traveling to the building puts people at risk of being injured by flying debris.

He said that if the storm sirens are already sounding, it is probably too late to head for a shelter. The last two times the city has activated sirens, the storms developed right over town, meaning that there was no advance warning of the storms.

Herstein said that there are several things that people need to remember. One of them is that warning sirens are intended to alert people who are outside, not those who are inside buildings where the sirens often cannot be heard.

Another is that the city does not sound an all-clear signal with the sirens. When the warning is issued, the sirens are turned on and continue to run until the warning is lifted or expires. However, the sirens are designed so that they will turn off after running for five minutes and then must be restarted, which will cause a short lull in the siren.

"As long as Nevada is under some kind of warning the sirens will blow," he said.

Additionally, Herstein said he would like for the public to not call the Police Department when the sirens are blowing to see if there is a warning, or if it was done by mistake. When Nevada is under a storm warning the dispatchers are busy and answering these calls takes them away from the radios.

He said that the city takes a very pro-active approach to keeping the public warned.

"Now, when the dispatchers on duty receive a notice that Nevada is under a warning, they can activate the sirens," he said.

"I would rather be wrong, than miss the one time a tornado actually comes through. At least we're going to warn the citizens," Herstein said.

He said that rather than depend on the storm sirens, the best way for people to be aware of storm warnings is to purchase a battery powered weather radio, which will broadcast the warnings as soon as the National Weather Service issues them.

The new models of these radios can be programmed to only alert people to warnings for their county.

With the Water Treatment Plant no longer available for shelter, Herstein said that the public needs to plan on what to do when Nevada is put under a tornado warning.

"I know of no storm shelter in town," he said.

"People need to start to develop a plan of what to do," he said.

The National Weather Service recommends people in homes and businesses go to an interior room with no windows on the lowest floor of the building with their weather radio. In a home, residents should be prepared to cover themselves and others present with mattresses or other padded material.

Those who live in a trailer park should contact the park manager to see if there is a shelter in the park.