Brookfield Renewable Energy says it's alarms did go off before rising water on the Oswego River swept four fishermen away last week.
The company released its report of the incident. According to the report, sirens went off for three minutes each at 11:06am and 11:33am, "prior to commencing dam generator operations at High Dam at 11:32am and at Varick at 12:01pm."
At about 12:45pm, Oswego County 911 received a report of four fishermen being swept away. Two of those fishermen later died.
Fishermen usually have three to ten minutes to get out of the river after hearing the sirens.
The report points out that the system "relies solely on fishermen heeding the warning, but as observed, obedience is sporadic at best."
In addition to the sirens, the report states there were 86 of 87 warning signs required by the public safety plan were in place. The one sign that was not up was on private property and not in the area associated with the incident.
Brookfield has already taken some action to address concerns. The company verified all the signage and siren operations. A representative was also part of a public meeting Wednesday night about safety on the river. The company will also review its Personal Flotation Device campaign called "Wear It" to see if the program can be expanded to specifically target fishermen.
