For the many people who cowered in their closets or utility rooms at home or in basements and hallways at school and at work, the baleful sirens that wailed across most of Longview Friday morning were welcome — even if they did disrupt important tasks.

Unfortunately, a number of Longivew residents might not have heard the sirens because, once again, two of the city's 20 storm warning sirens failed to respond when emergency personnel fired up the recently reworked system.

Fortunately, the worst of the storms that raced across East Texas Friday morning failed to light upon Longview and our community was spared any serious damage or injury. That is only temporary consolation, however, once the next wave of potentially tornado-bearing clouds approach the city.

Longview Mayor Jay Dean is right. Our city's storm warning system has let us down twice in a matter of weeks, and Longview residents deserve better.

We've been fortunate so far, but we don't ever want to be in the position to look back upon a natural disaster and tell ourselves we could have done better.

Reliance upon storm-warning technology that predates modern communications technology tells us up front that Longview could do better. Reverse 911 technology that can spread warning messages by telecommunications technology to all city residents with access to phones — both land line and cell phones, if people will share their number with the emergency services — would greatly increase the ability of emergency personnel to sound the alarm.

We believe there is still a need for the warning sirens, especially for people who are on the streets or away from home and not carrying cell phones. The added layer of a reverse 911 system, as mentioned by Dean, will be worth every cent it costs if it saves just one life in the event of a natural or man-made disaster in Longview.

With the pipelines that criss-cross Longview and the presence of a major chemical company on the edge of town, there are any number of potential crises that could require quick and efficient warnings to the public.

Longview should takes its cue not only from its mayor, but also from the Boy Scouts of America: The best way to deal with the unexpected is to "Be prepared."

Right now, the evidence is that Longview is not.