Sudden, short noises are about to become familiar on Monday evenings in Woolwich Township.

Emergency sirens will be switched on this Monday for the first time in St. Jacobs and Breslau.

After that, the sirens will be activated every two weeks, always at 7 p.m. on Mondays – and whenever there’s a tornado warning, train derailment, major fire or other significant threat to public safety.

“It’s very quick notification for the public. It saves police and fire from going door-to-door,” says Rick Pedersen, the township’s fire chief.

Elmira has had a similar siren alert system in place since 1995, with testing on Saturdays.

Township officials had wanted to expand it for some time, and that day has finally arrived.

When the siren sounds to indicate a legitimate emergency, it will last for three minutes – compared to the 30-second biweekly tests.

Upon hearing the alarm, Woolwich residents are expected to head indoors and await a phone call with further information.

“The siren will never go off without the message going out to tell you what is happening,” says Pedersen.

The phone-alert system has been in place for some time – many Woolwich residents were puzzled last spring when it dispensed information about tornado warnings despite Environment Canada not issuing such a warning – and officials say it has worked well.

Henry Hildebrand is the owner of St. Jacobs Place, an assisted living facility across the street from the St. Jacobs siren site.

He says he’s quite happy to be located near the siren, as it means he and his staff will quickly know if a situation requires them to evacuate their residents – although he admits some residents could be confused by the first test.

“We just need to educate them,” Hildebrand says.

“When they hear the sound, we’ll have to alert them to the fact that this is not really an emergency at this point.”

While the siren can be activated on-site, it can also be brought online remotely by emergency dispatchers in Kitchener and via the cellphones of township officials.