Sirens in Jackson, Mississippi?

[matto143]

Just finished reading "The Help". At one point in the book one of the characters mentions a "tornado bell" wailing far off. This would have been around 1963, so I'm guessing Jackson would have had civil defense sirens, but would they have sounded for a tornado? Also, what kind of sirens might have Jackson had back then? Thunderbolts?

[murrfarms]

They've had a large Civil Defense siren system since the late 50s, which I'm sure they probably would have also sounded them for tornado warnings and other local emergencies. They had a huge system of dual tone Thunderbolts that covered mainly the most populated areas of Hinds County, and they later added some Federal RSH-10s (Thunderbeams) to the system in areas previously without siren coverage. The county unfortunately replaced the system about a couple of years ago, with new solar-powered Federal Modulator sirens, and I believe they may have already started removing the old system. Also from what I've been hearing, they've been having more problems with this new system in the past two years than they ever had with their old system over its long lifespan.

Here's a video someone took of the attack portion of one of their siren tests in Jackson, which features one of their old Thunderbolt 1000Ts, located next to fire station #17 at Wayneland Drive & Canton Mart Road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_mlrdLr-9k

Google Street View of the siren:
http://g.co/maps/wzwz

[r4tbolts]

They probably not would have sounded in 63 for anything but a missle attack from the USSR. It wasn't till the Psalm Sunday Outbreak in the mid 60's that prodded many "Civil Defense" venues in the midwest to even consider sounding the sirens for a tornado. While there might be a limited few cities in the south that sounded sirens for tornados before then the general rule was the Civil Defense Sirens were for the big one from the USSR.

The south given my experience back then with Tennessee didn't really get all that worked up over tornados and severe weather. It wasn't untill the last 10 or 15 years or so the majority of towns tripped the sirens if they had them for weather warnings.

[Alasiren1977]

According to this local news videos they have 2001-130 solar sirens and a mix of the older sirens along with the Modulators. Below is video:

http://www.wapt.com/r/26999324/detail.html

[Melvin Potts]

I was in Jackson during the summer of '01. I recall seeing a few Tbolts, primarily at fire stations.

There was a yellow STL-10 atop a building downton; I noticed it while on the bus one day. Also saw a Thunderbeam somewhere close to the airport as I was headed there for return trip home.

[Grasshopper]

Hines county is completely upgraded to new Federal Signal controls and sirens.