An employee “accidentally” activated tornado sirens overnight for all of DuPage County during a test, officials said, in an incident that led to to confusion across multiple suburbs as sirens blared in the middle of the night.
“At approximately 3:00am on August 18th, a member of DU-COMM staff attempted to conduct a planned test of the weather siren activation systems,” a 9:24 a.m. Facebook post from DuPage Public Safety Communications said. “These tests are designed to assess the functionality of the technology without activating the sirens.”
went on to say that a staff member “accidentally activated the sirens” during the test.
“As soon as the error was realized, DUCOMM staff deactivated the sirens,” it said. “We regret that our error caused unnecessary interruption or confusion.”
Earlier Tuesday morning, the county acknowledged the sirens had gone off, and that “there may be questions and concerns regarding what occurred.” Multiple suburbs in DuPage County also posted about the sirens, saying they were a false alarm.
“There is NOT any severe weather to be concerned about,” the Village of Downers Grove said.
In a post on X, the National Weather Service in Chicago said nothing had been triggered on their end.
We have no idea as nothing was triggered from our office. We are hearing this may have been countywide per several other people.
— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) August 18, 2026In May of 2025, DuPage County launched a new, automated tornado siren system based on NWS warnings that activate without human intervention. Officials said it was meant to be more precise, with the system targeting areas “directly threatened.”
“Previously, it required someone to read a National Weather Service (NWS) alert and interpret the area of the warning, and then manually activate the sirens based on the map,” Tyler Benjamin, DuComm Deputy Director said at the time.
In the spring of 2026, tornado sirens sounded multiple times in Elgin during severe weather, though no tornado warnings were in place. The activation led to confusion for many.
In a post at the time, the city of Elgin said its sirens are activated “whenever the US National Weather Service Chicago Illinois (NWS) issues a severe weather warning, such as for tornadoes, winds over 70 mph, or other extreme conditions.”
“These sirens are designed to alert people who are outdoors to seek shelter. They are not intended to notify people who are already indoors,” the city wrote.
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