FedTB
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Re: St. Louis, Mo. and St. Louis County, Mo. siren history

Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:22 pm

metalstorm, thanks for the info.! I've taken two spotter classes in St. Charles County over the past twenty or so years. Interesting stuff!

uncommonsense

Re: St. Louis, Mo. and St. Louis County, Mo. siren history

Tue Aug 28, 2018 1:11 am

I have to bring a few things into question in this thread. Not saying they aren't true but definitely have some questions:

1) The T-Bolts being installed in '53. If that were the case, then they should have been jailbars yet I never ran across a jailbar unit in STL at any time.

2) More as a point of clarification: the 612s did not predate the Whelens. Rather, they were added later as gap fillers or replacements for malfunctioning units. The 612s all broke down and were replaced before the 2910s went in, save one unit in Ballwin (not listed earlier in the thread):: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5884864 ... 328!8i1664

3) Are we sure about the Allertronics? I've never seen any record of those. Both your locations have 4000s with 864 cabinets on StreetView imagery that predates the 2910s...which means if they were there they were gone within a matter of a few years. But as long as we've discussed St. Louis around here (and its been a long time) Allertronics have never once come up. Especially because the county installed several yellow painted 4000s in the early 90s to expand the system.

FedTB
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Re: St. Louis, Mo. and St. Louis County, Mo. siren history

Tue Aug 28, 2018 1:55 am

I realize that the old T-Bolts weren't "jailbar" T-Bolts, but I'm just going by what the article online stated, that St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis tested their siren systems for the first time for the "Red Alert Drill" in January 1954, which I estimate that the 18 T-Bolts were installed in 1953.

I'm aware that the Federal EOWS-612's weren't installed in 1982. Not sure of exact installation dates but they were much later than 1982. And like you stated, they were installed as gap fillers or replaced malfunctioning/outdated/obsolete units. The one next to Brentwood City Hall replaced a white T-Bolt that used to be located on the roof of the City Hall. The one in Florissant that I mentioned in my earlier thread also replaced a T-Bolt. I was unaware of the 612 in Ballwin. Where was it located?

Concerning the ACA sirens, yes I am 100% sure that the two sirens were ACA Allertronic-AL-6000-R's. Believe me when I say that they were not yellow 4003's! I know my sirens and I know the differences! I'm sure that I've mentioned those two ACA sirens in a previous thread here on the siren board, though it may have been several years ago. Yes, they were oddities in the system but they were there nonetheless, albeit for a short time.

And you are correct in assuming that the ACA's were only around for a few years (and then replaced by Whelen 4003's). My guess is that the T-Bolts that the ACA's replaced had become inoperable and St. Louis County CP needed two new sirens immediately but Whelen had none available at the time, and the two ACA Allertronic-AL-6000-R's were available, so they purchased them. I don't know for sure if that's how things went down; I'm just theorizing here. But I am 100% certain that they were ACA Allertronic-AL 6000-R's! If I remember correctly they were only up for 2-3 years or so. That's a lot of money to spend on two units that were used temporarily, but at the time I guess the powers-that-be decided that it was the best option available to them.
Last edited by FedTB on Wed Aug 29, 2018 3:23 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Travis
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Re: St. Louis, Mo. and St. Louis County, Mo. siren history

Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:31 pm

Are there any pictures of the yellow 4003's? I don't think I have ever seen one in that system.
-The Princess

uncommonsense

Re: St. Louis, Mo. and St. Louis County, Mo. siren history

Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:08 am

Travis wrote:
Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:31 pm
Are there any pictures of the yellow 4003's? I don't think I have ever seen one in that system.
Here is the one I knew of. This is a terrible photo because its old imagery but you can vaguely tell its yellow:

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.4706601 ... 328!8i1664

Adam Pollock also put a photo of another yellow 4004 in this thread:

https://www.airraidsirens.net/forums/vi ... 345#p33345

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Re: St. Louis, Mo. and St. Louis County, Mo. siren history

Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:27 am

The only yellow 4003 I can recall was at South County Rec Center on Wells road. I never knew about the ACA sirens.Wish I could have heard one of them. Earlier in the thread FedTB you asked about a model 2. Their was one if memory serves correctly on a fire station in Wildwood on Wild Horse Creek Rd near hwy 109. A 2910 stands nearby there now. An STH10 is on top of a Berkeley fire station near the new Schnucks Warehouse complex near Scudder Rd. It's quite visible once you are in the warehouse complex. It's in very good shape externally and is painted red.

FedTB
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Re: St. Louis, Mo. and St. Louis County, Mo. siren history

Wed Aug 29, 2018 3:41 am

There are very few fire stations that I know of in St. Louis County that still have Model 2's left over from the days when those fire departments or districts were all-volunteer. The fire station that's referred to located on Wild Horse Creek Road with the Model 2 is Monarch Fire Protection District Station 2 (Monarch FPD was formerly known as the Chesterfield Fire Protection District). Monarch is an all-paid department and has been for 40-plus years, and the Model 2 is a relic of the days when they were staffed only by volunteer firefighters. It's no longer activated.

Several of the fire departments and districts in St. Louis County have replaced their old fire stations with new ones, and a lot of the old stations had Model 2's or other types of sirens. Those were never used as Tornado/Air Raid sirens that I'm aware of.

The old Lemay Fire Protection District fire station still has a silver Model 5 located on the roof of the hose tower. The old Affton Fire Protection District Station 1 used to have a white Model 5 mounted on its hose tower roof. The building is still there but the siren was removed several years ago. The old Ballwin (now Metro West) Fire Protection District Station 1 had a gray STL-10 mounted on its hose tower roof. The old Maryland Heights Fire Protection District Station 1 had a Model 5 mounted near the ground at the end of the front apron where it butted up to Dorsett Road. The old Florissant Valley Fire Protection District Station 1 had a red Federal STL-10 mounted to the roof of the hose tower. It's now on display on the front lawn of the new Flo. Valley Fire Station 1. The old Mehlville Fire Protection District Stations 1, 2 and 3 each had a red Model 2 mounted on top of their hose tower roofs. They used to blow those sirens morning, noon and night even after they were no longer staffed by volunteer firefighters. I grew up less than a mile away from their Station 2 and vividly recall the siren going off, even in the middle of the night (This was from 1971 into the very early '80's when they'd still blow the siren).

The red STH-10 mentioned is actually located at the Kinloch Fire Protection District fire station. (FYI, Kinloch does border Berkeley). It, too, was used years ago to alert the volunteer firefighters of a call but is no longer activated.

Having grown up in south St. Louis County I'm very familiar with the yellow Whelen 4003 that was located at the entrance to the South County Recreation Center on Wells Road. There were very few yellow 4003's in the county, since more than 95% of them were gray. I do recall seeing a yellow 4003 out in the west county area, possibly in Ellisville.

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