What do sirens in your area warn of?

[coastalsyrolover]

I don't know if someone already posted this but what do the sirens in your area warn of? Tsunami? Tornado? Fire? All 3?

[Jim Z]

Macomb Co. MI: Alert for monthly test and severe thunderstorm warnings, Attack for tornado warnings.

[mrboojay]

In Boone County, KY. "The Outdoor Warning Sirens may be activated for any emergency situation requiring public warning." And "During severe weather the Outdoor Warning Sirens are activated for Tornado Warnings issued by the National Weather Service or when a funnel cloud or tornado is observed by a public safety official." As far as I know, they only use alert.

[Josh R]

Clinton County, Ohio: Alert and Hi-Lo for monthly test on first Saturday of the month which is weather permitting (Hi-Lo is for all-clear). For tornado warnings, a three minute Alert signal, and later, a Hi-Lo for when the storm is all-clear.

[Batman]

Just fires, with five (known) exceptions: there's one at a local prison to warn of breakouts and one near a dam to warn of flooding. I actually don't know what the other three are used for; one of 'em is at a police station (used like a fire siren but for police emergencies?), another is at my college (it's a Whelen, so it might be used as a PA system in emergencies), and the last one is near a quarry (absolutely no clue).

The fire sirens all sound in attack for fire calls as far as I know, and some of them do noon blasts. I know the dam siren tests once a year in alert for ~1 minute as well (I actually have a video on my Youtube channel).

[Antiwhoknows]

Severe thunderstorm warnings for tennis ball-size hail or 70+mph winds, tornado warnings, hazardous material spills, or any other threats to people that might be outside.

[PeachtreeSirens]

Mixed bag here. There's the Early Warning Siren System for the Surry Power Station, which does full alert for tests and 4x full alert cycles for the real deal. There's also a lone storm siren at the Jefferson Lab, which does 10-4 attack for tests and tornado warnings, sirens at several military bases that function as a PA system 99% of the time, numerous college systems that do varying signals for varying emergencies, and an ancient 8-port Model 5 at the Newport News Shipyard that does blasts to signal shift changes and lunch breaks (which means that it sounds once every 4 hours or so on average if my schedule is correct). No active fire sirens in my area to my knowledge.

[freebrickproductions]

Tornadoes.

[Penn State Guy]

North of where I live, they have nuclear alert sirens. Other than that, just for fire calls.

[Mark N]

Schenectady County, NY used their Civil Defense sirens in alert. These are no longer used (although our bad tornado last year may pressure Schenectady County Emergency Management to turn the CD system back on). Fire sirens are on each department, varying on age, from the 50s or 60s to the present.