A civil defense siren (also referred to as an air raid siren, tornado siren, tsunami siren, or other outdoor warning siren) is a mechanical or electronic device (modern-day sirens are electrically-powered whether they're electronic or mechanical) for generating sound to provide warning of approaching danger and sometimes to indicate when the danger has passed. In some areas in the United States, civil defense sirens may sound in the late morning on a regular basis.
Initially designed to warn of air raids in World War II, they were adapted to warn of nuclear attack and of natural phenomena such as tornadoes. The generalized nature of the siren led to many of them being replaced with more specialized warnings, such as the Emergency Alert System.
In a mechanical siren, sound is generated by a motor driving a shaft with a special fan (known as a rotor or chopper) on one or both ends. It will have only one fan if it's a single-toned siren, while if it's a dual-toned siren, it will have either one fan on each end or two fans in a stack on one end, with one fan having a few more blades than the other. Around each fan—or chopper or rotor—is a housing with a number of rectangular holes to match the number of fan blades. This housing is known as a stator. The end of each blade has a plate whose shape is matched with the rectangular holes and circular curve of the stator. The blades draw air in at the end and force it out through the slots in the housing in rapid pulses, as the plates on the end of the blades interrupts that flow, which is what produces the sound. Some mechanical sirens, such as the Federal Signal Thunderbolt series, also employ compressed air that is blown at the rotor to "supercharge" the sound from the siren, which causes the sound to be sharper and much louder than it would be with the chopper and stator alone.
Modern sirens can reach up to, but not commonly, 135 decibels when measured 100 feet (30 m) away from the siren; the loudest confirmed siren ever produced was the Chrysler Air Raid Siren, producing 138 dB at 100 feet. The Chrysler Air Raid Siren used a 180 hp V-8 Hemi engine to drive the siren and weighed 5543 lb.[1] Most sirens are mounted on poles that are usually around 40 to 50 feet off the ground, but some older sirens can be found mounted on buildings.
Many warning sirens have a sound that is distinct from that used by emergency vehicles due to use of two simultaneous tones, usually in a 5:6 frequency ratio (an untempered minor third).
Some newer sirens have the ability to broadcast voice messages over large areas, depending on winds and noise. These electronic sirens differ from electromechanical sirens in that they rely on a series of large loudspeakers to produce sound. There is some question about the ability of a system of electronic sirens to broadcast a voice message with sufficient intelligibility over long distances – not only does the sound echo off some surfaces, the sound could have multiple arrival times from widely-spaced siren sites.
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During World War II for a "Red Warning" of approaching danger, the siren produced a tone that rose and fell regularly between one high and one low tone.
A "White Warning" (All Clear) was a single continuous tone. Another alternating tone signified a "take cover" warning for immediate danger.
After World War II, two further warnings were introduced for nuclear attack – a "Grey Warning" indicated approaching nuclear fallout with a 2½ minute warning of long steady tones divided by equal periods of silence, the silence being created with a manual shutter or electric solenoid.
A "Black Warning," also for manual sirens, was either a Morse code 'D' ( – · · ) or three quick tones, indicating imminent danger of fallout.
These warnings were not used in the United States.
Today, the most common tones produces by sirens in the United States are "Alert (Steady)" "Attack (Wail)" and "High-Low (Hi-Lo)." Only a few siren models are capable of producing the hi-lo signal. Other tones include Chimes, Whoop, Pulse, Air Horn, Hazard, & Scream.
While the tones used vary in some locations, the most common tone, the "Alert" is widely used by municipalities to warn citizens of impending extremely severe weather, particularly tornadoes. The sound of the "Alert" is a steady continuous note. In towns by the ocean, the "Alert" may also be used to warn of a tsunami.
The "Attack" tone is the iconic siren of an air raid or nuclear attack and may also be used to warn of severe weather or tsunamis, but it is widely believed that this tone is to be reserved for an impending attack on the United States. This tone is best described as having a wail.
Finally, the "Fire Call" is a signal often used by volunteer fire departments. This tone can sometimes be used by local volunteer fire departments to alert firefighters of an emergency. This tone is also used in some cities to warn of the potential for flash flooding or a tornado warning or a Hazardous Materials spill. This fire call is often called "Hi-Lo", due to the way it sounds. This tone is a continuous alternating higher pitched and lower pitched sound, similar to police sirens in Europe.
Many fire departments in rural areas use sirens to alert volunteers of fire calls. In some instances, such as in the dry areas of the western states, residents may be required to shut off outdoor water systems to ensure adequate pressure at fire hydrants upon hearing the signal. There is no standardized fire signal in the United States, and it can vary from one community to another. Three long blasts on a siren is one common signal, which is also used in Germany and other countries as a standard fire signal. Other locales use the hi-lo signal described above, and some communities (particularly in New England and northern California) make use of coded blasts from alarm boxes on the street over a diaphone or air horn for fire signals, reserving the use of sirens for more serious situations. Some cities use the Attack tone as their fire call. Some communities make use of an "all clear" signal, or sound separate signals for fire calls and ambulance runs.
Sirens are sometimes used as part of an integrated warning system that links sirens with other warning media such as the radio and TV Emergency Alert System, NOAA Weather Radio, telephone alerting systems, Reverse 911, Cable Override and wireless alerting systems in the United States and the Emergency Public Warning System in the Canadian province of Alberta. This integrated approach enhances the credibility of warnings and reduces the risk of their being dismissed as false alarms by corroborating the warning messages through multiple media. The Common Alerting Protocol is a technical standard for this sort of multi-system integration.
Siren installations themselves have many ways of being activated. Commonly used are DTMF broadcasts over phone lines (direct connection or standard PSTN) or over radio broadcast. This does leave room for exploitation, but there are protections from false alarms. These sirens can also be tied into other networks such as a fire departments volunteer notification/paging system. The basics of this type of installation would be a device (possibly the same pager the firefighters have) connected to the controller/timer system of the siren. When a page is received, the siren is activated.
A mechanical siren uses a rotor and stator to "chop" an air stream, which is forced through the siren by radial vanes in the spinning rotor. An example of this type of siren is The Federal Signal 2T22,[2] which was originally developed during the Cold War and produced from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. This particular design employs dual rotors and stators to sound each pitch. Because the sound power output of this type of siren is the same in every direction at all times, it is described as omnidirectional. The Federal 2T22 was also marketed in a 3-signal configuration known as the Federal 3T22, which had capabilities for a "hi-lo" signal.
While some mechanical sirens produce sound in all directions simultaneously, other designs produce sound in only one direction, while employing a rotator mechanism to turn the siren head throughout 360 degrees. One such siren is the ACA Allertor.[3] This siren also produces two pitches simultaneously in a musical interval, but in this case the rotor and stator incorporate separate sections for producing each pitch.
An example of such a siren being produced today is the Federal Signal Model 2001 series. Introduced in the late 80s, it is capable of battery backup. There are two separate motors in the 2001. One powers the siren rotor, while another powers the rotator mechanism.[4]
One rare type of mechanical siren does not rotate or produce equal sound output in all directions. The Federal Signal RSH-10 "Thunderbeam" siren[5] employs a slowly rotating angled disc below the siren, which directs the siren's output throughout 360 degrees. This same method, applied differently, produces the distinctive sound character of the Leslie loudspeaker, but the rotation of the disc in the Thunderbeam is far too slow to produce the "warbling" sound associated with the Leslie loudspeaker.
The Federal Signal Thunderbolt series is arguably the most recognizable of all warning sirens, due to its unique shape and design.[citation needed] It creates a very distinct tone made specifically to get the attention of people. Thunderbolt sirens use a separate blower to force air through the rotor and produce greater air movement with each pulse, thus they are described as "supercharged".[citation needed]
Specially-designed horns having an exponential profile amplify the sound, causing the air at the end of the horn to be displaced the same distance as air in the throat of the horn with the passage of each wavefront. This lends a unique distorted character to the sound of these sirens as the throat of the horn is overloaded.
Within the Thunderbolt product line, three different configurations were offered. The Thunderbolt 1000 is a single-tone siren, and the Thunderbolt 1000T is a dual-tone siren. The Thunderbolt 1003 is essentially the same as the Thunderbolt 1000T, except that it employs solenoid-actuated slide valves to create a "hi-lo" signal primarily used as a fire signal.
Another example of a supercharged siren that has a separate blower is the Alerting Communicators of America (ACA) Hurricane.[6]
A variation on the supercharged electromechanical siren is the pneumatic Hochleistungssirene (HLS), produced by the German firm Pintsch-Bamag, and later by the German firm Hörmann. Soon afterward, Hörmann improved on the design to create the HLS 273, which did away with the massive siren head of the original in favor of a more compact head and cast aluminum exponential-profile horns.
These sirens stored an enormous reservoir of compressed air, recharged periodically by a diesel engine-driven compressor in a vault in the base of the massive siren unit. The later HLS 273 located the large (6000 liter) air tank underground beside the machinery vault, instead of in the mast itself as in the earlier HLS units.[7]
Electronic sirens produce their sound in a fashion that is fundamentally different from electromechanical sirens. Instead of a motor-driven rotor spinning inside a stator, electronic sirens consist of an electronic tone generator, a high-power amplifier, and a horn loudspeaker typically incorporating one or a multiple of compression drivers.
Typically the loudspeaker unit incorporates horn loading, which causes them to be similar in appearance to some supercharged electromechanical sirens.
Many of these loudspeakers incorporate a vertical array of horns, in order to achieve a practical yet effective high-power audio source with pattern control in the vertical plane. Each cell of the loudspeaker horn is driven by one or a multiple of compression drivers, which are typically purpose-built for siren applications.
One type of purpose-built compression driver for this type of loudspeaker handles 400 watts of electrical power and features an enormous magnetic structure with two donut-shaped magnet slugs stacked on top of each other to provide enormous flux.
For siren applications, high-fidelity sound is a secondary concern to high output, and siren drivers typically produce large amounts of distortion which would not be tolerable in an audio system where fidelity is important.
As with electromechanical sirens, there are both omni-directional and rotating categories, though Whelen Engineering produces sirens which oscillate through 360 degrees, rotating in one direction and then in the other to allow a hard-wired connection between the amplifiers and the siren drivers. Also, these sirens can be set to rotate any amount from 0 to 360 degrees, allowing sirens to broadcast only in certain directions.
An example of a rotating electronic siren is the Whelen Engineering "Vortex",[8] American Signal Alertronic RE1600[9] and Federal Signal Siratone 408, 612,[10] & 812, whose design incorporates four vertically-arrayed loudspeaker cells exiting into a common manifold. This horn design accomplishes pattern control in the vertical plane and focuses the output into a high-penetration beam.
Examples of omni-directional electronic sirens are the Federal Signal "Modulator" series,[11] Whelen Engineering WPS2700, WPS2800, and WPS2900,[12] and American Signal I~Force, in which compression drivers located in each cell exit into the center of the cell.
The contour of each cell forms the horn profile in this case, though other omni-directional sirens simply array directional re-entrant horn modules in all directions to produce a continuous coverage pattern, such as the ASC AL-8000 series,[13] and Federal Signal DSA series.[14]
Mumbai has around 450 sirens, located in all parts of the city. Some 200-250 are still functional. The government is thinking of repairing sirens, and installing new ones.
In Mumbai civil defense, sirens were used during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, warning civilians about air raids by the Pakistan Air Force. At night, sirens were also used to indicate blackout, when all lights in Mumbai were switched off. The sirens are tested every day at 9 am and at 5 pm. They are controlled by the Indian Defence Services. Sirens are also use to denote a minute's silence at special occasions.
Air-raid sirens used are typically sounded to warn of air raids or missile attacks on civilian population. The "all-clear" signal is used three times yearly to denote a moment of silence (of one or two minutes), once on Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day and twice on Day of Remembrance, and, in a few religious neighborhoods, to announce the arrival of candle-lighting times for Shabbat or religious holidays. Most of the sirens in urban areas are German-made HLS (supercharged) sirens, model F71 and ECN3000. The air-raid sirens are called אזעקה ("Az'aka", literally "alarm"), and consist of a continuous ascending and descending tone. The "all-clear" signal (called צפירת ארגעה, "Tzfirat Arga'ah") is a continuous single-pitch sound. However, in recent conflicts, use of the "all-clear" signal has been discontinued, as it was seen as causing needless confusion and alarm.
Singapore currently has a network of over 2000 stationary sirens named the Public Warning System which warns the entire country of war air raids, man-made and natural disasters (except earth tremors). On the first day of every month Singapore's sirens are tested. During the test, the sirens sounds a light but cheerful chime instead of any of its three signals, which led to the population's speculations of the sirens reminding them of the start of each month.
In France the emergency population warning network is called the "Réseau national d'alerte" (RNA). The system is inherited from the air-raid siren network (défense passive) developed before the World War II. It consists of about 4,500 electronic or electromechanical sirens placed all over France.[17] The system is tested each month at 12 noon on the first Wednesday.
The Netherlands tests its air-raid sirens once a month, every first Monday at 12:00, to keep the public aware of the system. There are about 4,200 sirens placed all across the country.[18]
Norway has about 1250 operational sirens (mostly Kockums air horn units rather than motorized sirens), primarily located in cities. Three different signals are used. The "Alarm" signal is an intermittent signal for about a minute, the "all clear" message is a continuous signal for about 30 seconds, and the "critical message, listen to radio" is 3 periods with three signals, separated by one minute between the periods. The "critical message" signal is followed by a radio broadcast. The sirens are tested twice each year. The second Wednesday of January, at noon, the "critical message" signal is sounded, and on the second Wednesday of June, at noon, the "alarm" signal is sounded, followed by the "all clear" signal five minutes later. The "critical message" is used in peace time to warn the population about major accidents, big fires and gas leaks.[19]
Switzerland currently has 8500 mobile and stationary civil-defense sirens, which can alert 99% of the population.[20] There are also 700 sirens located near dams.[20] Every year, on the first Wednesday of February Switzerland's sirens are tested. During this test, general alert sirens as well as the sirens near dams are tested to see if they are in working order.[20] The Population is informed of the test in the days before it by radio, television, teletext and newspapers.[20] The siren tests do not require the population to take any special measures.
The tones of the different sirens is provided on the last page of all phone books as well as on the Internet.
Every village, town and city in the United Kingdom used to have a network of dual-tone sirens to warn of incoming air raids during World War II, which were later put to use as warnings for nuclear attack during the Cold War. With the end of the Cold War, the siren network was decommissioned in 1993 and very few remain. These sirens, mostly built by Carter, Gents, Tangent, Castle Castings, and Klaxon, have 10 and 12 ports to create a minor third interval (B♭ and D♭ notes) and are probably the world's most recognized WWII "air raid siren" sound. In fact, recordings of British sirens are often dubbed into movies set in countries which never used this type of siren.
Where they do remain, they are mostly sounded on receipt of a severe flood warning for an area from the Environment Agency. Sirens are also used for public warning near gas or nuclear power plants, nuclear submarine bases, oil refineries and chemical plants. They consist of about 1200 sirens, a mix of older motor driven sirens usually from World War II, such as the Carter siren manufactured by Gents of Leicester, and the Cold War and newer electronic sirens. They are located in almost every village, town or city that is near the sea or has a river running through it. They are tested once yearly between the months of August and September.
In Canada a nationwide network of sirens was established in the 1950s to warn urban populations of a possible Soviet nuclear attack. The system was maintained until the 1970s, when advancements in military technology reduced the Soviet nuclear missile strike time from 3–5 hours to less than 15 minutes. Sirens can still be found in many Canadian cities, all in various state of repair. In Toronto, for instance, the network has been abandoned to the point that no level of government will take responsibility for its ownership.[21]
Sirens have recently been built within 3 kilometers of the Darlington and Pickering nuclear power plants in the province of Ontario. (Both plants are within 30 kilometers of each other.) These sirens will sound in the event of a nuclear emergency that could result in a release of radioactivity. There are also many sirens in Sarnia, Ontario because of local chemical plants that are tested weekly.[22]
In the United States, sirens are usually used to warn of impending natural disasters, as well as threats of military attacks, which in the United States are rare. Throughout the Great Plains, Midwest, and South, they are used to notify the public of a tornado warning or flash flood. They are usually also present in areas within a ten-mile radius of nuclear power plants. Such power plants that include sirens are North Anna (Domain), Perry (FE), Three Mile Island (TMI), and Saint Lucie (FPL). Coastal communities, especially in northern California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii use siren systems to warn of incoming tsunamis. Also in Pierce County, Washington there is a system of sirens set up along the Puyallup and Carbon River valleys to warn residents of volcanic eruptions and lahars (giant mudslides) from Mt. Rainier
Many cities in the US periodically sound their sirens as a test, either weekly, monthly or yearly, at a day and hour set by each individual city.
Some US volunteer fire departments, particularly in rural areas, use sirens to call volunteers to assemble at the fire house. Some areas utilize their sirens as a last resort, relying more on cellular and paging technology, however some rural brigades are outside the range of wireless communications and rely on sirens to activate the local volunteer brigade.
A series of 98 electronic sirens, making up a large-scale public-address system (the "Sydney CBD Emergency Warning System") and including 13 variable-message signs, are installed in the Sydney central business district. While installed in the months preceding the 2007 APEC conference, they are designed as a permanent fixture and are tested on a monthly basis.[23]
Smaller-scale sirens are also deployed, like the Model 5 or Model A, used at fire stations for call-outs and at Sydney's beaches for shark alarms. Alarms are also used around prisons for break-outs and at many factories and schools to announce start and finish times.
A siren is located at the Kwinana BP plant south of Perth, which is tested every Monday. It is used to evacuate the plant in case of an emergency and can be heard in Kwinana and certain parts of Rockingham. It can also be used to warn of severe weather and potential dangerous emergencies on the Kwinana Idustrial Strip.
Lower Hutt,[24] Napier,[25] Wanganui,[26] and Waitakere City[27] each have a network of Civil Defence sirens. The networks in Lower Hutt and Napier are bolsted by fire sirens pulling double duty as Civil Defence sirens. Lower Hutt's network is further bolsterd by selected industrial sirens pulling double duty as Civil Defence sirens. In the Western Bay of Plenty several fire sirens pull double duty as civil defence sirens and there is a dedicated Civil Defence siren at the Bay Park Raceway in Mount Maunganui; in the South Waikato the Tokoroa, Putaruru and Tirau fire sirens pull double duty as Civil Defence sirens and Tokoroa also has a dedicated Civil Defence siren; and Whangamata has two dedicated Civil defence sirens and the fire siren pulls double duty as a civil defence siren.[28]
   | Civil Defense Museum - Overview of sirens since their inception - Civil Defense Museum-Main Page |
| | Federal Warning Systems - Federal Warning Systems - Outdoor Warning Sirens & Communications Systems |
| | Whelen Engineering - Whelen Engineering Company Inc. |
| | American Signal Corp - Siren by American Signal Corporation, Warning Siren manufacturer, a leader in the outdoor warning systems industry. |
| | The Siren Archive - Over 1,000 siren photographs coupled with a few recordings from around the world - The Siren Archive... Presented by J. Marcoz Emergency Vehicle and stationalerts.com |
| | Hormann America Inc - Alerting Solutions>>The Alert, Warning and Notification Specialists |
| | ATI System - ATI Systems - mass notification systems, campus alert systems, emergency loudspeakers, emergency warning systems |
| | Hormann Warningsystems GmbH - Hörmann Warnsysteme - Elektronische Sirene, Motorsirene, Alarmierung |
| | Warning Systems UK - Warning Systems UK - Area & Site Warning Systems. First for Public Safety |
| | A website of information by the Swiss Government - www.ch.ch - Welcome to the Swiss Portal of the federal government, the cantons and the communes - Alerting the population in the event of a disaster |
| | Video of Swiss annual siren test, YouTube - YouTube - Swiss Siren Test |
| | The Winning Side - Air Raid Sirens in Post-Cold War Los Angeles - Air Raid Sirens |
| | Toronto Star - TheStar.com | News | The mystery of the air raid sirens |
| | Information by the French Government - Sirenes - Le site officiel du ministère de l'Intérieur de l'Outre-mer et des Collectivités Territoriales |
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