Non-binary St Louis emergency management chief on leave after not sounding tornado alarm—which didn't work anyway—leaving 5 dead

A Missouri emergency management chief has been placed on leave after tornado warning sirens failed to be activated during last week's severe weather incident that resulted in the deaths of five people. Sarah Russell, commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) in St. Louis, was not at the CEMA building to activate the alert system when the National Weather Service indicated that a tornado had touched down. Instead, Russell gave an ambiguous order to the Fire Department to activate the button. It was later determined that the button was never pressed, nor did it work, authorities said.

The CEMA main building and the Fire Department both have tornado alert buttons that are meant to activate a system of 60 outdoor sirens stationed around St. Louis. Investigators said the button at CEMA worked. St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer ordered a probe into the siren failure immediately after the incident, which resulted in Russell being placed on administrative leave Tuesday.

According to Spencer's office, the commissioner was at an off-site workshop with emergency management staff about a half mile away from the main building when the NWS issued the tornado warning, CBS News reported. Russell contacted the Fire Department to activate the sirens, but did not provide a clear directive, the mayor said.

In the call recording released by the mayor's office, Russell briefly mentioned being aware of the NWS warning and asked a person at the fire department, "OK, you got the sirens?" The person replied, "Yes, ma'am," and the call ended.

"The direction was not clear," Spencer said at a Wednesday press conference, adding, "It's my understanding that the button was not pushed." Even if the button was pushed, city officials learned Tuesday that it was out of commission.

"Work to repair the button began Tuesday afternoon and is expected to be completed within days," the mayor's office said, per CBS. Fire Department personnel will be stationed at the CEMA office 24/7 to activate the alert system if needed.

On Tuesday, Spencer signed an executive order to change the siren activation protocol that places the Fire Department with sole responsibility to activate the system. St. Louis Fire Captain John Walk will serve as the interim emergency management commissioner during the external investigation.

Russell, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, has been the CEMA commissioner since 2021, according to Russell's LinkedIn page. Russell was described as a social media expert and "consultant for several departments and organizations as they look to engage in using social media for local government or emergency response purposes," as previously stated on the St. Louis government's website before the profile was scrubbed, The Blaze reported.

The May 16 tornado impacted an estimated 5,000 people after it touched down near central St. Louis, ripping through the area and killing five people.