Do any cities in the US have an Air Raid Siren System?
Usually they’re labeled as “Tornado sirens”, but yes, we’ve quite the extensive system. Something like 181 Whelen electronic sirens were put in all around the city about a year ago or so.
Tested every Saturday at noon, as they always were even with the old mechanical CD-issue sirens. These, however, are tested with a steady wail, rather than the cringe-inducing cacophony you heard on TV last night.
Anyone living with-in 25 miles of a nuclear power facility have a lod-speaker system capable of delivering sirens for different events. I would assume they could deliver air-raid alerts as well. Thought highly unlikly we would need to use the air-raid aspect of the alarm system.
I live with-in that designated 25 miles of a nuke plant, and we all got Potassium iodide pills incase anything horrible were to happen. KI pills protect the thyroid from radiation effects. Nuts huh?
Also, on saturdays they sometimes test the system, Woke me up out of a sound sleep once and nearly gave me a heart attack…
Absolutely, and many still test them weekly. When I lived in Chicago (15 years ago), the air raid sirens were tested every Tuesday at 1030 a.m. Of course, the cold war was still on, so maybe they’ve stopped since then. When I lived in Wisconsin in the mid 90’s, I heard them every so often if there was a tornado in the area. I’m sure folks in tornado alley hear them more than they care to.
I don’t think any of the warning sirens are still intended for use in the event of air raid … though they might be used to get people’s attention in the event of one, I guess.
I used to live near Limerick, PA, and they tested the warning sirens the first Monday of each month. They were to be used in the event of an accident at Limerick Nuclear Power Plant.
Good point. In Wisconsin, we had two nuke plants nearby, and on occasion heard the tests. I never got any pills, though. They did come to the station every month to take grass clippings and readings. Christ, I was part of a response team… where the hell were my pills?!?! :eek:
Las Vegas is eliminating theirs:
So, while many places still have and need special-purpose warning sirens (for tornadoes or nuke accidents), the cold war air-raid siren is kind of useless.
The KI pills came after 9/11. Damn scary stuff, and has even promted my wife and I to consider a move out west.
Where I grew up in Larchmont, NY we had a loud burping siren which was used to call up the volunteer fire department. They tested it every day and 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM.
It was annoying.
When I lived in IL (1984-2001), most small towns had a siren in the middle of town somewhere, and larger ones had several spread all over the place. They were tested regularly (usually Tuesday mornings), and used primarily when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for somewhere in the county. In some places the sirens were also used to call in the volunteer fire department in the event of a fire (I guess for small depts. that couldn’t afford a pager budget).
Austin, TX no longer does. There was an article in the local paper a year or so ago about a man who owns a house in town with the last remaining siren tower in the back yard, and what he does with it (which I honestly don’t remember what that was).
Baltimore had them until sometime during the last few years. They would sound every Monday at 1 p.m.
Indiana towns all have their Civil Defense sirens, which are usually used for tornado warnings and nothing else. In Indiana, these are supposed to double as “air raid” sirens. Of course, by policy, they never drill or test the “air raid” signal, so if it ever were given, people would probably not recognize it in the first place. However, in Indiana, the instinct is to “hear the siren, go to the basement”, so it would be about the same effect.
I’m around the Twin Cities in Minnesota, and you can’t go anywhere around here without being in range of a siren. Every month during the summer months they test the sirens, first a constant pitch, then rising and falling. During tornados we only get the constant pitch, so I’ve always assumed the rising and falling would be for something like air raid.
Yep.
“The second siren sound is a warbling sound and it is used for other types of emergencies. The warning is advising you to turn on your radio or television to an emergency broadcast network for further information regarding this emergency. It may be used for a civil defense emergency, evacuation emergency or hazardous material incident in the community.”
In St. Louis the civil defense sirens are tested at 11:00 a.m. on the first Monday of every month. People still call them “air raid sirens”, but then, St. Francis Xavier Church, on the campus of St. Louis University is still called “The College Church” (and is listed as such in phone directories) even though St. Louis College changed its name to St. Louis University over 150 years ago.
In recent months an announcement has been broadcast via loudspeaker assuring people that it is only a test.
The state of Hawaii has one and tests it monthly at noon on the first workday of the month. Although I don’t think they’ve actually warned of an air raid since WWII. We do use it to warn of weather and other environmental disasters. For instance it woke me up in ~1995 for a tsunami threat. That was the only time I can remember it being used for anything other a test in my life.
The reason we keep testing the system is due to the fact that on this island is located Pearl Harbor, Kaneohe MCAS, Schofield Barracks and many other important Pacific bases.
They’re all over the place here, and tested at noon on Saturdays. They’re used pretty often in summertime when a tornado warning is announced; the sound of the siren breaking through the roar of a big storm gives me chills.
They’ve got 'em in San Francisco. Tested I think first Tuesday of each month about noon.
Certainly not for tornadoes and I don’t know that an “earthquake siren” makes any sense but we have 'em.
Actually, appletreats, they test the sirens every month (first Wednesday of the month, 1 p.m.)–you might not hear them if your windows are closed.
The town I lived in when I was in high school tests their sirens every day at 6:30 p.m. (and they also do the monthly test stated above). They also still blow the sirens if there is a fire in town. (A holdover from the pre-pager days?)
Minnesota also has tornado drill days–in April and September, I think. They blow the sirens then, too. In high school, they’d file the entire student body into this large room in the basement of the school. The school was built in 1968, and it was only recently that I realized that that room was probably also meant to be the school’s fallout shelter. :eek: It was also used as an archery range for P.E. classes.
I’m waiting for April 2nd…some fool’s going to hear the sirens at 1 and seal himself off with duct tape and plastic and suffocate. We’ve already had a rotten potato shut down a local emergency room for a few hours.