Does you community (still) have air raid sirens?

pookie-poo

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We still have them, although I think they're called "Public Alert" or maybe "Public Addess" sirens. They are tested the first Saturday of the month. They get used mainly for tornadoes, but they have been used when there's been a chemical spill at Dow Chemical or Dow Corning.
 

addiebee

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They aren't really air raid sirens, but warning sirens appropriate for civil defense and things like tornado sightings. They are tested the first Saturday of every month at one pm... been happening since I was a girl.

AB
 
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persi & alley

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Originally Posted by AddieBee

They aren't really air raid sirens, but warning sirens appropriate for civil defense and things like tornado sightings. They are tested the first Saturday of every month at one pm... been happening since I was a girl.

AB
That's the problem, nobody knows what they are for. When I was a kid (a long time ago) the sirens were air raid sirens. We practiced getting under our desks and the teachers told us the Russians were going to bomb us at any moment.
As far as tornado warnings, we have plenty of tornados in Texas, but when there are tornado warnings on the TV, these sirens never go off. So since nobody knows what they are for they are ignored and if any of the "practice" sirens are ever real, they will just be ignored.
 

gailc

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We have the tornado siren which is right by the high school which is about 2.75 miles away from me.
Its in Wisconsin and goes off promptly at noon the 1st Saturday of the month. If I'm outside at least I know its time to have lunch!!
 

isabel

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I'm in Wisconsin and ours are tested on the first Wed. at 11 AM. They went off this morning; I was home from class and heard them. I wonder why we're different?
 

valanhb

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Actually, we do have them even in Lakewood. They are tested twice a year, I think. I'm pretty sure they are at the Federal Center.

The town in Nebraska where I went to college tested their sirens every day at 11:00 a.m. I always wondered what would happen if a tornado hit at 11:00?
 

MoochNNoodles

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I know we don't have them...for tornadoes or anything. I suppose they would just use the fire sirens if we had an emergency. I read an article a few months ago that said the county below us was installing some. We occasionally do get a tornado here. There is a possibility we had one last night, but they are few and far between and usually don't last long fortunately!
 

meownstuff

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I'm not sure if they have practice ones here. I've only lived at my current residence a little under 2 years but I do know they sound them in the event of tornado threats. I got my first little taste of that a month ago at 4:30 am. It was quite scary. I was rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to rustle up my babies. Fortunately it missed us but it definitely made me think about having a plan for such an event.
 

catkiki

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I have never heard one here... I guess they used to have them in the 40's during the war but never in my lifetime. We don't have tornados and you cannot predict an earthquake.
 

capt_jordi

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We have them and even though tornados are very rare in our area we still have them just in case!
They test them the first saturday of the month and on other random occasions! I havent heard one yet today... maybe we ant here them where we are at now.
 

tutti_bella

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Live in NY and the only sirens are cops, fire dept, ambulances ....
 

jugen

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I live in IA and ours go off on the first Tues of each month to make sure that people are aware of them or something stupid like that.

They are used for severe weather, tornados, things of that nature, and have gone off numerous times, but honestly, I've never seen people react any differently then if they didn't. Sad isn't it? I think they set them off for to many things and people just have conditioned themselves to just not bother with them anymore.
 

Moz

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I don't know, but I remember when I was about 7 all these sirens went off as I was riding my bike... I remember it was very stormy that day so maybe they were tornado sirens, but we do live right by an air base.
 

Moz

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Originally Posted by katiemae1277

they use them for tornado warning sirens here too... I absolutely hate that noise though, it's very scary
I get the heebie jeebies just thinking of that noise!
 

calico2222

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Our town use to use theirs and it annoyed the crap out of me! When I was in high school, I worked Saturday afternoons answering the phones at our church, and every Saturday at 4:00pm that siren went off....and it was right across the street! Talk about deafening!! Two good things about it was 1) we knew it still worked and 2) when it went off, I knew I could leave in 1 hour!
 

nekochan

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I heard a really weird siren going off in (it seemed like) the distance one day last spring or summer... It sounded like an air raid siren but I think they are using them as "tornado sirens." I know there was a tornado warning for some areas near us at the time so I am pretty sure that is what it was. That was the only time I've ever heard that type of siren. It is also very very very rare for us to get tornado warnings in our immediate area.
 
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