Buzz
As a child in southwestern Pennsylvania, I lived next to both a fire station and railroad tracks. The coal-carrying trains, which passed through town around the clock, were bearable. However, there were times when I’d be abruptly woken by the jarring sound of a fire siren.
With modern technology and sophisticated emergency notification systems in place, is there still a need for sirens? I’m not alone in asking this; communities nationwide have been discussing this issue at local meetings, with some bringing it up as early as the 1990s. The National Volunteer Fire Council states that sirens aren't strictly required, and the decision to use them lies with local authorities.
Although there’s no legal obligation to use them, many fire departments have fought to keep sirens in place, despite complaints from disgruntled residents. Chris Hash from the Easton Volunteer Fire Department in Maryland explained in a blog post that sirens are still needed because other communication tools, like pagers and cell phones, are not always reliable.
“Batteries run out, pagers and cell phones aren’t always with you, and text messages or apps like Active 911 can be delayed, with some calls never coming through at all,” Hash wrote. “The National Fire Protection Association recommends having at least two reliable ways to alert firefighters in case of an emergency.”
Additionally, it’s impossible to miss a fire siren. "When you're working outside on a lawn mower, you might not hear your pager, but you’ll definitely hear the siren,” George McBride, a member of the Hillcrest Volunteer Fire Department in Mechanicville, New York—where there was a debate about whether to replace a disconnected siren—told the Times Union in 2014.
Aside from alerting firefighters to an emergency, the siren serves to notify local residents to stay vigilant. Some supporters of the fire siren argue that it helps keep drivers and pedestrians off the roads and reminds residents with sprinklers to turn them off in order to conserve water.
In Mitchell, Ontario, a fire department hadn’t used its siren in nearly ten years, but after a firefighter nearly hit a pedestrian on the way to the fire hall, the town decided to reactivate it earlier this year. Similarly, in Calistoga, California, a department considered purchasing a siren again after a deadly wildfire, even though they had previously discontinued it in response to noise complaints.
More departments have followed suit. Duncan Scott, a sales manager at Federal Signal, told the Napa Valley Register in April that fire departments from across California had placed orders for sirens after a series of wildfires ravaged the state.
Some communities have found a middle ground by retaining their sirens but restricting their use to hours when most people are asleep. In certain small towns, sirens continue to sound daily at noon or sunset—a remnant from the past when they were used to signal lunchtime or to call children inside. In some places, this tradition is preserved for nostalgic reasons.
