Tornado Sirens- old air raid

[Chkpoint 131]

I have a question. What happened to the old air raid sirens here in Westchester? I remember as a kid noontime on Saturday they went off for weekly test. That ended early 1990's or late 80's? Why not bring it back for tornado warnings? Severe storms seem to happen more and more and it would make sense to bring it back. Sometimes people are not paying attention to smart phone/tv or radio. Especially listening to satellite radio. Just an idea I had. Does it make sense to any of you? Feasible?

[SOUSGT 357]

Too many people complained about them so their use was discontinued in many communities.

As a result, they have been allowed to rot and mostly have rusted to the point that they are useless except for bird houses.

When I was a kid, the fire department blew the horns/sirens at 8 am and 6pm. The commuters knew if they heard the siren that they had to run to make the train. If us kids heard the 6pm siren, we knew it was time to go home for dinner. Now we have to rely on our cell phones.

[AFS1970 504]

Stamford abandoned their sirens years ago, although I remember testing them on the first Monday of the month when I started working. We no longer have the buttons for them in dispatch. As far as I know they are all still standing, the ones on private buildings were left to the building owners to deal with, I think 2 of them are still there but now I have to go look. Either way they would likely not be functional.

As for the fire horns, I too remember those being a signal to us as kids. On school nights the 8PM test meant bedtime for a few years. On summer nights when all neighborhood kids were out and about, the 8PM test meant time to come home.

I don't know if they still do it, but New Canaan CT use to have specific "boxes" that they sounded for school cancellations and delays due to weather.

[Chkpoint 131]

Yeah I remember the fire horns. They were used in many towns until about 10 years ago. I don't mind FD horns being used anymore. Technology today allows volunteers to be notified a number of different ways so there is no need for them. I remember those being tested nightly as well. But for storms/ warnings / flood I think this is a good idea to alert the public. Not a daily thing where it would annoy the public, tornado warning especially is dangerous and like everywhere else in US we should have it here. We do get tornados. iE Brooklyn and Hawthorne

[SOUSGT 357]

In the Communication Room of my old department, there was a switch for the air raid sirens on the wall next to where the police dispatcher sat. The switch was there to activate the sirens citywide. (We tested them weekly at the time.) When the switch was pressed, it sounded a bell in the room to let you know the sirens were activated. At about 2 am one morning. the PO assigned as dispatcher leaned back and hit the switch by accident. It set off the bell in the room and got everyone’s attention. I ran into the room and reset the switch, the dispatcher looked up and said “what’s the rush, those sirens haven’t worked in years”

Shortly the switchboard lighted up with residents wanting to know if the City was under attack, or a flood was coming.

Fortunately the Mayor was a sound sleeper and we never heard about our little wake up call.

[AFS1970 504]

In my old station we used to test the horn at 4PM. We would periodically get complaints but we always told them it was a required back up to the pagers. We eventually changed it to noon time due to a child in the area with a specific problem with loud noises, then went down to a weekly test. If I remember correctly, once you designate the horn as your back up, the FCC requires daily tests, but hey why follow standards.

As for the horn being a thing of the past, most of us would hit the horn button if it was a report of a working fire, this was of course mostly a historical practice, but it did send a quick message to anyone in the area. We got a call for smoke in the house once and I knew there was a member in the area that never carried a pager. So I hit the horn. He was across the street at the pharmacy. came running, made the second due piece and got to the house to find that his dad was the landlord and the tenant had a small fire in the motor of an appliance. So horns do have their value.

I guess the air raid sirens have gone the way of automatic text alerts, but I find that sad. The one time I was outside when I got a Tornado warning, everyone in the crowd seemed confused by what to do next. I don't think getting rid of the sirens helps one bit. Plus the fact who among us, that had the switch for the Take Cover - Air Raid horn would not have sounded it on September 11, 2001? I think that attack certainly met the definition.

[calhobs 110]

9/11 if I remember correctly the EAS system was never activated either