Does your city/town have a siren?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Does your city/town have a siren? (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:46:17 PM EDT

So, two days ago at 0100 am the siren goes off. I grab kitteh and the wife wakes up the in-laws who are visiting and we all go into the basement. The dog follows.

I turn on the TV and a storm is rolling into town. Winds up to 70 mph.

I think this was some BS "boy who cried wolf".

What do you think?

Edit. The weather man that night said no tornados but it's procedure to use the siren for high winds.

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:48:45 PM EDT

[#1]

I live in Kansas, we have one damn near every other block.

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:48:45 PM EDT

[#2]

I would say it depends on what the storm was doing. They're could have been rotation to possible spawn a tornado.

A town about 20 miles away had a tornado a few weeks ago, but the sirens didn't go off.

Needless to say, some were pissed. I guess better to be safe than sorry.

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:50:21 PM EDT

[#3]

We have "Big Voice" from the base.

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:51:12 PM EDT

[#4]

An what?

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:52:21 PM EDT

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:

An what?

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An siren

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:56:16 PM EDT

[#6]

I guess for high winds, that number better be pretty up there. 100mph-ish for the siren.

Shit, 70 mph in South Dakota is a calm day....

Posted: 6/18/2014 4:59:11 PM EDT

[#7]

Many in town, but the one on the city building goes off every day at noon. It is loud as hell.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:01:14 PM EDT

[#8]

The NWS classifies a storm as severe if straight-line winds exceed 58mph. Whether or not the siren is blown for that depends on local policies. My town does.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:01:30 PM EDT

[#9]

Have one about 4 blocks from me and the city has 2 or 3 more, also the next city has a few and I can hear theirs as well

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:03:16 PM EDT

[#10]

Are you talking about the tornado sirens that have the creepy 1984esque voice every time they test each month? Yep, all over.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:04:51 PM EDT

[#11]

We have two humungous nuclear plants within thirty miles of each other, you bet your ass we have great big sirens that will probably be the actual cause of the Zombie Apocalypse if they are every turned on at full power.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:06:38 PM EDT

[#12]

yes.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:12:22 PM EDT

[#13]

My old hometown has one. Goes off everyday at exactly noon as a tradition, and other times of the day for the volunteer Fire Dept.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:16:22 PM EDT

[#14]

There was lots of them in Vegas back in the day. They tested them every Saturday at noon. I think they were for nuclear tornado's though.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:17:13 PM EDT

[#15]

They stopped using them 2 years ago. It is about 100yds away too. So much for early warnings... not that I ever sheltered anyways. I always go outside and look.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:18:00 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:

I live in Kansas, we have one damn near every other block.

View Quote

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:18:13 PM EDT

[#17]

Every Day at noon.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:18:29 PM EDT

[#18]

Yup

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:19:08 PM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:

They stopped using them 2 years ago. It is about 100yds away too. So much for early warnings... not that I ever sheltered anyways. I always go outside and look.

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Don't stand under trees

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:19:09 PM EDT

[#20]

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:19:16 PM EDT

[#21]

Thought this was another Volunteer Fire Department thread.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:19:26 PM EDT

[#22]

No, but the old lady who owns the hardware store is also the mayor.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:21:39 PM EDT

[#23]

Yep. I was actually the first person to activate them for a tornado warning.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:22:02 PM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:
I live in Kansas, we have one damn near every other block.

View Quote

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:23:43 PM EDT

[#25]

When i worked at a factory, one summer our German parent company sent a young engineer to intern at our shop for the summer. One of the guys started telling the kid about how tornadoes can form even when the sun is shining and there is no rain. He told the kid if he hears a siren hide in the corner of the bathroom, crouched with your head between your legs.

Next day was Tuesday and at noon every Tuesday they sound the siren as a test. Sun was shining, not even a single drop of rain within 300 miles, then the siren goes off. The engineer took off and hid in a bathroom stall. It was 15-20 minutes before someone from the office found him....

Loved that job, 75% of the people were ruthless assholes and 25% were gullible fools.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:24:53 PM EDT

[#26]

Sirens are all over metro the Detroit area. They test them regularly at 1pm the first Saturday of every month. Other then that they only get used for tornado warning. Its a weird mix too, various sirens used, some new ones that project voice messages, others look and sound lime they are cold war era.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:29:27 PM EDT

[#27]

We don't even have a town.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:29:47 PM EDT

[#28]

The city used to have an air raid siren but about twenty five years ago they auctioned it off.

We bought it and it's in our hangar now.

Damn thing is loud - we don't set it off very often......

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:32:29 PM EDT

[#29]

At our old house we had one about two blocks away. Wife and I were asleep in our room with the windows open. Our room was on the side of the house facing the siren. It was going off, wind was blowing 70mph, neither of us wake up until one of the kids comes running into our room afraid the house was going to blow away.

Posted: 6/18/2014 5:41:06 PM EDT

[#30]

They have twisters in Pakistan, bro?

We probably have a siren but, it is also probably full of bullet holes.

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:00:51 PM EDT

[#31]

The nearest small town near doesn't have one. It only has a population of around 160 though.

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:01:37 PM EDT

[#32]

Quote History

Quoted:
When i worked at a factory, one summer our German parent company sent a young engineer to intern at our shop for the summer. One of the guys started telling the kid about how tornadoes can form even when the sun is shining and there is no rain. He told the kid if he hears a siren hide in the corner of the bathroom, crouched with your head between your legs.

Next day was Tuesday and at noon every Tuesday they sound the siren as a test. Sun was shining, not even a single drop of rain within 300 miles, then the siren goes off. The engineer took off and hid in a bathroom stall. It was 15-20 minutes before someone from the office found him....

Loved that job, 75% of the people were ruthless assholes and 25% were gullible fools.

View Quote

Lol, kuhn krause?

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:50:12 PM EDT

[#33]

Our isn't for storms. It has a megaphone to. For Nuclear incidents at the power plant.

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:51:34 PM EDT

[#34]

Our sirens came down along with the Berlin Wall

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:54:08 PM EDT

[#35]

Quote History

Quoted:
Lol, kuhn krause?

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

When i worked at a factory, one summer our German parent company sent a young engineer to intern at our shop for the summer. One of the guys started telling the kid about how tornadoes can form even when the sun is shining and there is no rain. He told the kid if he hears a siren hide in the corner of the bathroom, crouched with your head between your legs.

Next day was Tuesday and at noon every Tuesday they sound the siren as a test. Sun was shining, not even a single drop of rain within 300 miles, then the siren goes off. The engineer took off and hid in a bathroom stall. It was 15-20 minutes before someone from the office found him....

Loved that job, 75% of the people were ruthless assholes and 25% were gullible fools.

Lol, kuhn krause?

No, the company I worked for went out of business years ago.

I don't hear the storms or the sirens when I sleep. Last week we had a hell of a storm roll in during the night, I never woke up from the storm. My dog was sleeping on the porch and when the storm hit she wanted inside because she hates to get wet. Major Kansas thunderstorm raging, I don't hear it, a single "woof" by my dog and I am wide awake and going to the door. That is when I realized, "Hey, it is really storming..." then back to bed.

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:54:36 PM EDT

[#36]

Yes, although 99% of the time its used as a fire siren for the volunteer FD.

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:54:50 PM EDT

[#37]

We have one they sound every time the fire dept goes out on a call

Posted: 6/18/2014 6:55:02 PM EDT

[#38]

Quote History

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http://youtu.be/vyuH4NP1E2c

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That is sweet.

My FSA neighbor's would live me about 3am every morning.

Posted: 6/18/2014 7:03:20 PM EDT

[#39]

Count me in the crowd that goes to look outside if we hear one. My little hometown had them and the city I live in now has them.

Posted: 6/18/2014 7:15:04 PM EDT

[#40]

We have one. But I take the responsibility to monitor radar and storm rotation (Radarscope app and NWS) as they approach me or my family.... The sireeeen just adds some adrenaline to the event

Posted: 6/18/2014 7:20:06 PM EDT

[#41]

Damn. I miss the air raid siren tests of the 60's.

Posted: 6/18/2014 7:20:10 PM EDT

[#42]

My town has a couple sirens left over from WW2. I guess they were concerned about the rail yards getting bombed. They use them to signal the volunteer fire dept. for anything and everything. I think it would be better used for tornadoes, flooding, or other extreme danger to the community at large, not every little isolated event.

Posted: 6/18/2014 7:21:03 PM EDT

[#43]

They took them down in my town after the USSR collapsed.

Posted: 6/18/2014 7:21:46 PM EDT

[#44]

No siren, and no town either.

Posted: 6/19/2014 3:14:04 AM EDT

[#45]

We have one that is disconnected that was used to wake up firefighters at the station for calls.

There is another abandoned one in the midtown area.

Northern VA here.

Posted: 6/19/2014 3:24:02 AM EDT

[#46]

I work at a hospital and they test it on the first Tuesday of every month

Posted: 6/19/2014 3:35:50 AM EDT

[#47]

Yes we do, but it's because of our proximity to a nuclear power plant, not for the weather.

Posted: 6/19/2014 4:02:22 AM EDT

[#48]

nearest town does have one

Can't hear it from my house

Posted: 6/19/2014 4:09:23 AM EDT

[#49]

The air raids they were afraid of here... would have been coing from their.

Not sure if they have sirens.

Personally, I have witnessed two major cases of "mission creep" in US use of such sirens for storms.

The first was when they changed the definition of Tornado Warning - as it was a Tornado Warning which triggered their use. It used to be, a funnel coud had to have actually been spotted. Modern day Tornado Warnings are more like odl school Tornado Watches. Yet, the siren policy did not change.

Now it's like you say - often the policy to use them just for high winds.

I've heard it argued that tornados have hit and created victims without warning, and thus earlier sounding of sirens might have saved lives. However, I also can't help but agree that the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" phenomenon is real. I know I've personally stopped really paying attention to them when living in parts of the US that have them. Now, I go look at the sky myself, unless at night.

Posted: 6/19/2014 4:13:13 AM EDT

[#50]

Noon every day

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Does your city/town have a siren? (Page 1 of 2)

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