PLYMOUTH, Wash. – The news Tuesday was heartening – if it’s right.

“It looks like the fix has been found,” said Troy Berglund, spokesman for Benton County Emergency Management.

Berglund said earlier this week that four people showed up at a meeting Monday night to inspect tone alert radios distributed to residents in Plymouth and Paterson last fall.

About half of the 250 radios, once handed out, showed problems in receiving the signal that could one day warn them of an accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

But manufacturer’s representatives Tuesday may have found the problem, he said.

The radios were fixed about three months ago, Berglund explained, and officials found some internal adjustments came loose. Most of the radios were epoxied, but some were apparently missed.

“They worked fine until they got moved around,” Berglund said. Representatives from Tandy Corp. noted this Monday, then readjusted and re-epoxied the radios.

The radios will be redistributed in mid-March if they pass a stringent series of tests that averages to about three a day, Berglund said.

“If it works four of five times, we’re not pleased with that – it needs to work every single time,” he said.

Another meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Paterson School, 51409 W. Prior Rd.