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Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:31 am
by Jim_Ferer
During the Cold War the Washington DC sirens system went off accidentally several times, once in the middle of the night. I've thought before now some of them might have been accidentally on purpose to see what people would do and keep up the proper Cold War tension.

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 1:22 am
by slant-40
During my family's spring 1962 visit to DC, the T-Bolt on Edmunds School (9th & "D" NE) went off one evening at 10:15pm. It sounded in attack for about ten minutes before it was finally shut off. It scared the living bejeezus out of me, all of seven years old at the time. Since it was quite close to my Grandparents' house (About 300 yards), I don't recall hearing any of the other sirens; this T-Bolt was a dual tone 1000 and was VERY LOUD and very frightening to my seven-year old ears.

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:49 am
by WPS4004Man
A while ago, in Franklin County, a siren at a church in Upper Arlington, Ohio went off at 3 am and 6 am in either air horn or hi-lo by accident. This was reported on the news, and it was suspected to be interference.

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:28 am
by Tuba
Also in Franklin county, a Dublin Whelen 2750 (Dublin has a separate system,it’s probably the biggest suburb of Columbus and located in the northwest part of the county) went off in hi-lo for a bit during the afternoon. There is a video of it, and it was suspected the ribbon cables messed up.

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:50 pm
by nvanw27
A few weeks ago, Imlay City Michigan’s STH-10 became ‘Haunted’ and would randomly sound a growl test every so often, according to my Grandfather. The SRNB on the other side of town never did anything. The cause was found to be a bad wire, and was fixed.

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:32 pm
by Darley Champion
A small town somewhere in France (can't remember the name...) had the city hall siren start up in all clear in the middle of the night... We never knew why it suddenly activated...

My hometown also had a accidental activation, the siren went off 3 hours after the test (after the all clear signal has been sounded)... This time it was the control circuit that failed and started glitching out. Yet after this unfortunate event, the siren has been disconnected... I doubt they'll fix it.

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:42 pm
by Synther
Recently (within this last week), a refinery near me (Holly Refinery) has had their whelens sounding at 3AM.

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:55 am
by siren_face2000
I can tell you that in my entire lifetime, I haven't heard or witnessed an accidental siren activation. I'm lucky

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:39 pm
by Austen_lyon123
I Was Eating At A Chinese Buffet When Suddenly The Model 5 (Only 100 Feet Away) Started To Go In Attack! I Ran Outside And Everyone Was Confused. It Was Sunny And No Clouds! I Walked To The Fire Department Where The Siren Is Located And They Said There Was No Explanation To What Was Going On. After About 10 Minutes Of Attack It Just Shut Off. This Was Back In February Of 2016, The Siren Is Now Inactive.

Re: Accidental Siren Activations

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:06 am
by insertusernamehere94
Apparently LA’s system would activate randomly from time to time. Unfortunately I was born 8 years after the system was decommissioned.