Chilton County was awarded a grant last week for upgrades to the county’s tornado warning sirens.

The $9,271 grant from CAWACO Resource, Conservation and Development Council will require a match of the same amount by the commission, county administrator Vanessa Hendrick said.

Chilton County applied for and received the grant to change the sirens’ radio frequency, in order to come into compliance with a mandate by the Federal Communications Commission that all radio transmission be done over narrower channels.

“We’re not replacing anything; it’s just kind of getting it up to standard,” Hendrick said.

There are 27 sirens in the county, and it has been estimated that the upgrade would cost about $600 per siren, for a total of $16,200.

Hendrick said the project would have to be bid out before an exact total would be known.

FCC set a deadline of Jan. 1, 2013, to come into compliance.