Macomb, Illinois Siren System

Tue May 28, 2013 2:35 am

Hello! I've been looking at colleges recently (ones that include Meteorology, Engineering, and Emergency Management) and Western Illinois University is one of them. WIU is in Macomb, which I heard has some Thunderbolts and 2T22s. Is there a map of the system, and do they test on the usual Illinois test day? Thanks!

Tue May 28, 2013 3:31 pm

Ah, good old Macomb. You are correct, the city has a few Thunderbolt 1000Ts, two 2T22s, and also a couple 2Ts. McDonough County has a pretty neat variety of sirens...little bit of Sentry, good bit of newer ASC, and quite a lot of older Federal sirens still around. There has been talk of replacing the sirens in Macomb for something with battery backup (most likely ASC sirens), though that's been talked about for years and as far as I'm aware, nothing has changed in their system to date.

Here's a map of the county, including those sirens in Macomb: http://goo.gl/maps/cN3uW

And just for fun, here's some pictures I took of some of the sirens in the county back in 2009. Unfortunately I wasn't able to grab any pictures of Macomb's Thunderbolts, but I did manage to get a bunch of their two 2T22s.

Macomb:
Federal 2T22B - Grant Street

Federal 2T22A - Industrial Park

Adair:
New Salem Fire Protection District (T-121 is the weather siren, Model 3 is the fire siren)

Bushnell:
Sentry 3V8 - Hess & Cole Streets

Colchester:
Federal SD-10A - Water Tower @ Fire Department (fire siren)

Federal 2T22A - Public Library (weather siren)

Industry:
ASC T-121 - Industry Fire Department

Tennessee:
ASC T-121 - Post Office

Tue May 28, 2013 3:45 pm

That is an interesting system, but remember, don't choose a college just because of its sirens!

Tue May 28, 2013 8:10 pm

Hahaha, I know!

Thanks! I recieved an e-mail (I contacted the city incase I didn't get a response here) and they said:

All sirens are newly installed and working. They are tested the first Tuesday

of every month at 10:00 a.m.

The sirens are placed so that they cover the entire town. Following is a list:

1.Hidden Hills Subdivision
2.Hospital Grounds
3.Wastewater Plant
4.East Grant Street near Stacy Lane
5.Shady Lane south of Hwy 136
6.Q Lot on WIU campus
7.Hemp Road in Industrial Park
8.Court House
9.Camp grounds at Spring Lake

Does this mean the system was replaced?

Wed May 29, 2013 1:11 am

Oh wow, from the way it sounds in the email, it seems like they finally did replace the old system because at least half of those locations they gave you are new ones where there wasn't previously a siren. That's a shame, they had one heck of a cool old Federal system before. In reality though, they really did need some sort of an upgrade since a lot of their old sirens were starting to fail more and more often, though I'm pretty sure it was mostly the old radio system to blame for most of the missed and random siren activations. Oh well, so goes the way of the future; the oldies don't last forever unfortunately.

Sat Jun 08, 2013 2:58 am

The pioneer plant at Good Hope has a 15V2T and 20 plus F2s

Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:53 am

Hi, I live in Macomb and was out looking at some of the sirens this evening. I can tell you that the Thunderbolts on Wigwam Hollow Rd at the cemetery, WIU Q-Lot, and the armory are all still standing. As far as their operational status, I am not sure. There is a recently erected (the last year or so) siren next to the Thunderbolt in Q-Lot at WIU. There is nothing new standing next to or anywhere near the Thunderbolts at the Armory or the cemetery on Wigwam Hollow, so I assume that those are still functioning. The 2T22 on Grant St near Stacy Ln is also still standing and there is no replacement anywhere near it as well, so I would assume it is still functioning. I will try to get pictures here in the next few days. If they do plan to replace the Thunderbolts, I would love to purchase one of them!
-Trent

Wed Jun 12, 2013 4:27 pm

trent79 wrote:Hi, I live in Macomb and was out looking at some of the sirens this evening. I can tell you that the Thunderbolts on Wigwam Hollow Rd at the cemetery, WIU Q-Lot, and the armory are all still standing. As far as their operational status, I am not sure. There is a recently erected (the last year or so) siren next to the Thunderbolt in Q-Lot at WIU. There is nothing new standing next to or anywhere near the Thunderbolts at the Armory or the cemetery on Wigwam Hollow, so I assume that those are still functioning. The 2T22 on Grant St near Stacy Ln is also still standing and there is no replacement anywhere near it as well, so I would assume it is still functioning. I will try to get pictures here in the next few days. If they do plan to replace the Thunderbolts, I would love to purchase one of them!
-Trent

Ok, thanks! What siren is next to the Q-Lot Thunderbolt?

Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:13 am

All of the new sirens are Federal Signal 2001-130 series. According to the list that you received from the city that you posted earlier, ACA, each of those locations, except three, have a new 2001-130 siren. The exceptions are the location on Grant St. near Stacy Lane, which still has the 2T22 that 'murrfarms' posted on May 28th, the courthouse, and the siren at Hidden Hills. I know the one at Q-Lot at WIU was put up last year, and I assume that the other new 2001-130s were as well. The poles look new and there are still clods of dirt around the base of the poles. I've gone around and taken pictures of all of them. I am really only familiar with the Thunderbolt (one of my favorites, aside from the Chrysler air-raid siren, of course) and a couple of others, so I'm not to certain of the exact model on the sirens at the courthouse and Hidden Hills. So, feel free to chime in on my photo posts and let me know what they are. Photos will come in this post and one additional post. It would not let me continue to add photos to this post.