Easton's Air Raid Siren for Imminent Danger similar to Fire summons

We would never know what hit us. We would die sitting at our computers and lying in our beds without a clue, as a storm bore down on us or some other emergency. We would never have a chance save ourselves because we have heard "the sky is falling" a thousand times a year here in the town of Easton, Maryland.

The volunteer fire siren alarm goes off an average of three times a day (quite often at night) and the Emergency Management Imminent Danger Signal is tested only once a month, on the first Saturday, at noon. Both sirens are two minutes of wavering tones, the imminent danger siren is supposed to be "faster". I took my video camera and recorded the two sounds in order to put them side by side to compare. The two sirens sound almost exactly alike and yet one we are told to ignore and we are urged to familiarize ourselves with the other so that we can take appropriate action in the event of a real emergency. Our emergency managers recommend that the appropriate action would be "take cover in a secure location immediately".

On the noise pollution side of the issue: Please note that there are multiple sirens located around the town so everyone gets to hear the sound in stereo, except for the people who work downtown and those living in the expensive houses nearby - there are no sirens there. They wouldn't be aware of a killer storm no matter what the sirens sounded like. For the sake of safety we should put up a few more towers with sirens on them immediately!!

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• air
• raid
• siren
• volunteer
• fire
• alarm
• summons
• imminent
• danger
• noise
• pollution

[Wasteminion]

This isn't against the fire department, nobody is complaining that firemen do their jobs, we're complaining that outdated and offensive technology is being used, at a detriment to some of the same citizens who donate to those same firemen. If one of your family members was a war veteran and the sirens caused him horrible flashbacks, would you still fight for the sirens? I'd like to think you would, and it's a shame if your opinion changes based on whether it's your family member or mine.

[Sakuranym]

I once stayed at a friend's house in Easton. I was woken up in the middle of the night by these things. Having never heard one except when watching old movies where there was a bomb raid or something in my highschool classes, I was a little off-put when one woke me up in the middle of the night. I literally thought I was going to die. When it kept going on and no one in the house got up I figured I was safe, but completely unecessary? I would think so.

[avm316]

Sirens keep the public safe, especially when fire trucks and other emergency vehicles are about to pull out onto the road to respond to a fire, car accident, etc.

[SuperMoussey]

reading the broshure must be the secret code fore the tornado siren

[SuperMoussey]

i love tornadoes

[aldente543]

my town has that same exact siren

[KetchupAndMustard55]

LOL I HEARD you say "you probably can't hear me at all" when the siren was going off :D

[ND1003]

It must have an SC controller. This is fast wail on the SC. all of our 2001s have it.

[Cars2fan]

Something tells me this was made in the 1990's. Its old but no matter how old a Federal Signal sirens gets, it still sounds GREAT when its wailing.

[Cars2fan]

@amberlynn6914 this is an old Federal Signal model3? I thought it was a Federal Signal model 5.

[DS977luxol]

Loudness is 128,5 Db/100 ft. Amazing siren !