AN EASY way to tell where a Lubbockite stands on implementing an outdoor warning system in the city is whether they say "sirens" or "sir-eens."

"Sir-eens" is often the chosen pronunciation of those who lived through that tragic evening on May 11, 1970 — the anniversary of which falls tomorrow — when an F5 tornado rolled into downtown, taking 26 lives and leaving immense destruction.

It’s said that unmet expectations are premeditated resentment, which would explain the indignant tone when "sir-eens" is uttered. Because, after all, sirens did fail Lubbockites on that fateful evening 47 years ago.

However, those sirens were civil defense air raid units produced in the 1940s, wired in a loop, implemented to warn of vertical threats during World War II and, later, the Cold War. But they were not designed to withstand horizontal natural disasters.

Today’s sirens sit high upon metal poles footed in concrete, spin 360 degrees on backup batteries, can be initiated from satellites in outer space and have to be audibly tested once per month. (Google "Federal Signal 508" for an example.) The technological evolution of outdoor sirens during the last half century is as impressive as the transformation of rotary wall phones into smartphones.

Yet, the policy lesson of 1970 seems to be that there’s less to resent when nothing is expected. Today, the city is not only without a mass notification system, it’s the only 200,000-plus population in Tornado Alley’s 16-state region that does not have an outdoor warning system.

As a member of the 2014 bond committee, I toured the Emergency Operations Center and was shown what seemed to be a wooden jewelry box. Once opened, in handwritten marker it read: "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, PRESS RED BUTTON." And there, glued in the box, was an oversized red plastic garment button.

Not funny, but true. (As this column is being published, city emergency officials were gathered in the EOC closely monitoring severe weather. Servants working with the tools — and buttons — they’ve been given.)

Fortunately, Mayor Dan Pope and Lubbock City Council members are now stepping up to the issue. This leadership is likely emboldened by new City Manager Jarrett Atkinson.

If the Hub City has an outdoor warning system expert, it’s Atkinson.

As Amarillo’s city manager, Atkinson oversaw an outdoor system that covered that city’s 110 square miles (Lubbock is roughly 135 square miles). Over time, he integrated new sirens with older units. Atkinson was in command when a huge supercell moved across Amarillo in June 2014, setting sirens off in zones as circling clouds passed over the city.

Atkinson firmly believes in a multi-layer warning system, consisting of electronic mass notification (phone notices, television, radio), Specific Area Message Encoding weather radios, as well as outdoor sirens.

"There’s not one single technology that can be completely depended upon," Atkinson said. "There must be a saturation of notice."

Atkinson expects a "huge discussion" about mass warning systems in the weeks ahead. Some say systems could enter the budget discussion this summer. The 2014 bond committee estimated adequate siren coverage to cost around $2.5 million.

Another Lubbockite who knows a thing or two about natural disasters is Justin Weaver, meteorologist in charge of Lubbock’s National Weather Service office. He concurs with Atkinson on a multi-layer notification approach. But he sees outdoor sirens as a critical layer — and he’s leery of overconfidence in smartphones, which usually assumes all residents have access to such technology.

"The first thing to go in a natural disaster is communications," he said, adding that the average warning for a tornadic event is 14 minutes, a period during which cellular network towers can get overloaded very quickly.

In assessing damage after a May 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, which killed 158 people and destroyed or damaged 7,500 homes, Weaver observed the majority of interviewees reported they could hear the sirens.

"If you have sirens and, God forbid, there’s a disaster, the city can say it did all it could."

I commend the mayor and the council for delving into sirens versus sir-eens, a discussion that will inevitably set off a debate about the role of government and personal responsibility in Lubbock.

In this debate, I’ll simply quote Article II of the city’s charter: "The City of Lubbock shall have the power to enact and enforce all ordinances necessary to protect health, life and property."

That’s solid ground on which to build an outdoor warning system in the Hub City.

Jay Leeson can be heard on AM 580’s West Texas Drive weekdays 4:30-6:30 p.m. Email him at jay@westtexasdrive.com