HERMISTON – Even with a stage all its own, the stubborn siren on Highway 395 refused to sing on Monday.

The emergency siren, located north of town near Follet Road, has thwarted several efforts by Oregon Emergency Management to make it perform. The siren has worked once during the last half-dozen monthly tests.

Kym Cazier, the assistant Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program manager, said technicians and manufacturer’s representatives are still vexed by the device.

The test was supposed to include the alert siren plus a voice message. People working nearby said they heard only a voice message, though they said they couldn’t tell what the voice said from indoors.

The sirens are designed to alert area residents of an accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

Technicians decided to replace components in the siren with parts from a siren in storage. Cazier hoped that work would be completed by today’s siren test.

The siren in storage is compatible with the one in place, but OEM won’t go for a direct replacement because the second unit is weaker. If replacing the components doesn’t do the trick, OEM will order a new siren, Cazier said.

Thirty-five sirens are in place across Morrow and Umatilla counties, plus seven more on the depot. OEM is ordering six more sirens for areas that don’t get the messages well. A timeline for the new sirens hasn’t been developed, she said.

People working near the faulty siren Monday expressed little worry about its poor performance record.

“I don’t believe there’s ever going to be an accident,” said Fred Allen, a realtor at Hermiston Realty. His business is across the highway from the siren.

Bonnie James, the secretary at Fordice Real Estate Services, Inc., said she wasn’t sure what to think about the near-by siren.

“I wish it did work better, but I’m not terribly worried by it,” she said.