Fire Department Partners with Sheriff's Office to Upgrade Severe Weather Monitoring

SWEETWATER, Texas – The Sweetwater Fire Department, in partnership with the Nolan County Sheriff’s Office, recently upgraded severe weather warning capabilities to better monitor conditions and notify residents of severe weather.

In June 2025, the Sweetwater Fire Department implemented the CommanderOne platform. This system ensures daily diagnostics of all warning sirens to confirm signal integrity and operational readiness. Personnel can activate and control the system from both computer and mobile devices, greatly increasing response speed and flexibility in emergencies. Additionally, sirens will automatically sound when a severe weather event is occurring or threatening our area.

“This upgrade is a major step forward in how we protect our community,” said Fire Chief Tad Baird. “When our personnel are actively responding to calls during severe weather events, they are unable to continuously monitor the warning sirens in real time. CommanderOne ensures those systems are automatically activated and functioning properly, giving the public critical time to react.”

The cost for the Sweetwater Fire Department to join the platform totaled $1,800. This cost includes reprogramming radio frequencies for each siren and configuring them to work cohesively with the Nolan County sirens. The Sweetwater Fire Department would like to thank the Nolan County Sheriff’s Office for their continued partnership, collaboration and commitment to public safety.