Fire whistle

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JS11581

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What I'm wondering is why the fire whistle still goes off at the fire house if members of the fire house have radios, pagers and scanners. I've searched the internet with no straight answer. Am I missing something?
 
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Fire Whistles

What I'm wondering is why the fire whistle still goes off at the fire house if members of the fire house have radios, pagers and scanners. I've searched the internet with no straight answer. Am I missing something?

I am a Fire Commissioner in our local area, so we struggle with this on a regular basis. In short, it's for the old-timers. In the "old days", the siren would blow to summon the volunteers from the farms and fields. Nowadays, when most volunteers go to work in cities away from the siren, the sirens are mostly useless. Most "Volunteer" fire departments are forced to go partially paid, like ours.

We have over 300 pagers out there, but still there is a reluctance to shut down the siren, in fear that it will never be allowed again. It used to be - Siren Test at 12 noon and 6PM. 24 hours for all calls. Now it is no siren after 8PM or before 8AM. We pay people to be on call at night.

To me - it serves no useful purpose, but for the older guys - I guess it still means something.
 

GTR8000

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Tradition.

I could give you a few other "reasons", but really it comes down to tradition and a sense of comfort among the firefighters that it's one of the few technologies that works almost without fail, proven over many decades of use.

I will say that for as silly and archaic a fire whistle may seem in today's hyper-modern age of technology that has replaced it (not to mention the fact that this isn't 1950 anymore where everyone in town could hear it blowing, now you can barely hear it a few blocks away), I'd rather have volunteers rely on that whistle for notification than some other non-public safety grade technology like text messages carried over an often unreliable public cell phone network. I'm noticing more and more guys are relying on those technologies instead of carrying a pager, and that's really not a good thing given the lousy turnaround time you sometimes get with text messaging.

Newer technology isn't always the best solution.
 

brndnstffrd

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This has nothing to do with why they use it, but on the same subject, one thing i have heard from people (non members of the department) is when the siren goes off, then its time to turn on the scanner and see whats going on.

More on topic, its normally more for traditions sake then anything. Although if im driving past a department and they go off, ill normally drive a little slower and look around for members responding so i can get out of their way as we are a stupid courtesy light state.
 

GTR8000

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Although if im driving past a department and they go off, ill normally drive a little slower and look around for members responding so i can get out of their way as we are a stupid courtesy light state.

Yep, that's one of the "reasons" some guys like it, they feel it gives the public a heads up to look out for volunteer responders and fire apparatus when they hear it. Of course with the way today's vehicles are insulated and come standard with 200w audio systems...good luck hearing anything on the outside.
 

Spec

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OP : in your particular area the radios don't always work due to various conditions such as but not limited to terrain. While tradition may be the "thing" in some other areas the Harlem Valley has issues with radio reception to this day. There are other reasons but I'll leave it there.
 

Spec

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This has nothing to do with why they use it, but on the same subject, one thing i have heard from people (non members of the department) is when the siren goes off, then its time to turn on the scanner and see whats going on.

Most times in the Hudson Valley area the dispatch info has already been sent.
 

Confuzzled

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Now it is no siren after 8PM or before 8AM. We pay people to be on call at night.

To me - it serves no useful purpose, but for the older guys - I guess it still means something.
Sounds kind of elitist, but hey, if you can afford to be that way. Not all departments can even afford to keep hoses and other equipment up to date, let alone hand out radios and pagers to everybody. Paid stand-by? HA! Most of our departments don't pay for on-scene time.


OP : in your particular area the radios don't always work due to various conditions such as but not limited to terrain. While tradition may be the "thing" in some other areas the Harlem Valley has issues with radio reception to this day. There are other reasons but I'll leave it there.
There's that too. Audible sirens can reach areas radio signals don't. Some of our sirens can be heard 5 or 10 miles away if you're outside, maybe in a low area or on the backside of a hill that blocks radio.

Of course the County Brains kowtowed to some complaining citizens and dropped the sirens. Station mounted sirens are now tied to the early waring system and only sound for storm warnings. Oddly enough, they kept the noon soundings 'for tradition'. Result is fewer responders during the daytime since radio is so bad in some areas here. Can't respond if you don't hear the page.
 

SCPD

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If it's a Gamewell Siren system that had Fire Alarm Boxes on the streets, go to" The Gamewell Diaphone Site - Warning With Distinction".
 
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smwincva

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About 5 years ago, a neighboring county went from low band to VHF that included the primary fire channel being P25. Most of the firefighters are volunteers having low band pagers. I believe the pagers were replaced, but I'm not sure who paid for it. It was decided also the P25 FD channel would be broadcast in analog as well, for the benefit of firefighters & residents with scanners. But the volunteers still insisted on having the siren go off each time Station 1's tones went off. Often I hear the siren on the radio when dispatch is talking.

On another note about the house siren. Many years ago, I used to live next to a long closed fire house. One morning I was rudely awoken by it's house siren "going off". I found out later from the from the fire company that now owned the building that the siren was being sold, and was being tested. It went to a station in New England.

Steve
 

APX8000

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I remember several years ago when a subject came down to the firehouse after an early morning call asking to speak with the Fire Chief. When I asked what it was in reference to he said, "to ask him why in this day and age of pagers does the siren have to go off at 3am and wake me up...I have to go to work in the morning!"

I looked at him for a good 10 seconds, walked into the radio room, grabbed an application for membership, and walked back over to him. I politely replied, "If the siren wakes you up, why don't you come join us. We could use the help. We don't get paid for this, and I have to go to work in the morning too."

He is now a member and a good friend.
 

58006

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Many departments Upstate still use them. When I say Upstate I mean North of the Mohawk River/Erie Canal.

In Washington County most of the departments that no longer have them it is because they needed repair and they just did not want to spend the money to do so, or the fire department built a new station and never felt like moving the siren and equipment, they just cut the wires and left it.

There are a few departments that still believe very heavily in the use of their siren, in their words "to let the public know that there is an alarm and pay attention."

I will say that I am nostalgic and I do like the sound of a good fire siren. Back in the day it was "blow until they go!"
 

GTR8000

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I can never decide whether I'm for or against them anymore, so I'm largely indifferent.

The fireman in me loves the nostalgia of them, and I know that in certain communities they are effective means of alerting, in particular small communities when you have a lot of the members working for the local government. I do think to some degree they give the motoring public in the area a heads up. There have been times where my pager died and I heard the whistle and responded, although not very often at all.

Which of course leads me to also believe in many large suburban (leaning more towards urban) communities, which are so congested and developed and noisy, they are largely irrelevant. There is too much noise pollution for the sound to be effective for much more than maybe a mile at best. House, buildings and windows are so much better insulated than they were back in the day, that the sound hardly penetrates anymore. Same with vehicles, as previously noted.

I think it should be up to the individual communities to decide their fate. One thing I'm not a fan of are the whiners who move right next door to a 100 year old firehouse and never think to see if they have a whistle, then endless complain about it and threaten to sue to get it turned off.
 

Confuzzled

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Problem here is that they're tied into the Early Warning Sirens and are used for things like Civil Emergencies. If they were activated for a fire these days, Central would be flooded with calls wanting to know what was happening and if they should seek shelter, especially if it were a clear day without storms.
 

SteveC0625

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Many departments Upstate still use them. When I say Upstate I mean North of the Mohawk River/Erie Canal.

Ah, another person that gets it! Thank you!

UpstateNY640x.jpg


There are a few departments that still believe very heavily in the use of their siren, in their words "to let the public know that there is an alarm and pay attention."

I will say that I am nostalgic and I do like the sound of a good fire siren. Back in the day it was "blow until they go!"

The volunteer fire department up here still uses a siren. It cycles 4 or 5 times and shuts down so it's not terribly annoying during sleep time. Not only does it let folks know that there is an alarm, but it's also a subtle reminder that the fire service here is a volunteer one and that good men and women get up and respond 24/7 when called.


#WWFD 12/24/2012 RIP, Chip and Tomasz.
 
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