Woodstock, VA - Strasburg Fire Siren

[Thunderbolt]

WOODSTOCK, Va. — The debate over the future of Strasburg's fire siren also has raised questions about how well Shenandoah County's telecommunications system works in the town.

Fire siren debate focuses on county radio system - Local News

 

[rapidcharger]

Great idea!
Way to think outside the box! The town should negotiate free messaging for permits to erect towers.

 

[cavmedic]

The ONLY people who have a right to complain about the siren are those who lived there prior to the siren being installed.



Everyone thought I was crazy for pushing to get our FD siren back online , and the siren is at my first floor window level @ 100 feet away.......





But we do have it on a time of day timer and it only operates between 0900-2100..


I can't stand NIMBY'S

 

[tglendye]

Text messaging for emergency responders is not outside the box thinking. Almost every locality that I know of already uses it. I am located in Rockingham County, which is just south of Shenandoah County and I am surprised they do not already use it. The ECC that serves us (Harrisonburg/ Rockingham ECC) has been sending text messages of our incidents for the last 13 or 14 years. This idea was probably outside the box thinking back then.

My disclaimer is this: I know next to nothing about Shendandoah Co. Fire & Rescue. I know a few volunteers and paid staff there and that is it. I am on the south end of Rockingham and do not know how things operate there. That being said, I think in the fire service we occaisionaly shoot ourselves in the foot by attempting to hold onto tradition. Tradition can be very important, but we need to look at what we need to hold on to and what we can let go of and change for something better. Especially if it is a thorn in the community's side and we can "exchange" it for something better.

Is a house siren necessary? I do not know the answer to that question for Strasburg, but I will say it is not necessary where I volunteer. I joined our fire company in 1988 and the house siren was already obsolete by that time. The exception was when calls were dispatched for us by Augusta County. Their signal was weak enough (before they upgraded) and it was determined that it was still necessary. I liked the siren at the time.

But today we have the option of text messaging and I just do not see the benefit of a house siren. Text messaging is much more reliable than a siren. It is better to have a device (cell phone) on your side that vibrates/ audible alerts you to a message. That is much better than relying on a house siren if the fire pager/ repeater would fail. Especially if you are in an area you could not hear the siren.

I read some of the comments to the article on the paper's web-site. One appeared to be from a 19 year old firefighter. Nothing against him, but give me a break. The technology was old by the time he was born. If you want to alert the town that you have a call (If I'm up they should be awake too) then blow the siren on your rig.

The house siren was probably innovative 40-50 years ago. It is a thing of the past now unless the newer technology cannot be afforded.

 

[cavmedic]

So what happens when the cell provider is backed up and text messages are delayed?


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[cavmedic]

I can't hear my alpha or minitor when mowing grass or operating the weedwacker but I sure can hear that siren


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[tglendye]

I can't hear my alpha or minitor when mowing grass or operating the weedwacker but I sure can hear that siren


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I bet you can. You already said you are 100' away. But you are missing the point. Not only is this about adapting to the community but it also has to be about redundancy. My question to you would be what would happen when the repeater goes down and the tones can no longer activate the pagers OR the house siren. Then you have nothing

It is good to have duplicate systems. Especially when they are entirely different. I would say the fire/rescue paging system is quicker and more reliable than the cellphone text messaging system (for us at least), but the text messaging is a great back up and a heck of a lot better than a house siren.

If the community is asking or requesting something that absolutley woud not work, it is the Chief's responsibility to put the message out and explain the Department's needs- which appears to be what is happening. But I believe in this particular it is a strange argument on the Department's part... which goes back to firefighters love tradition.

EDIT: Goofy typing.

 

[cavmedic]

Even before I bought this house, and lived 3 miles away, I could pick out the siren due to the sound pitch raising and dropping.

For redundancy I have that covered. When the motor starter was replaced, I added an additional alerting method for it, since the closest tower does not have genny back up.( where our voice paging is done) It can be alerted with two tone from the closest tower and or pocsag alerted from another simulcast tower site. Plus a manual override from inside the s station.





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[cavmedic]

It's not about them adapting to the community, it's the transplants complaining about them.

I would never put the trust of alerting via commercial text messaging for emergency services.

Although I also did setup SMS services to select phones to send out pages but there is a two minute delay sometimes and it varies by phone provider. And for those glued to Facebook 24/7 , it posts to the private company page also.


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