Any records of sirens sounded/turned on besides testing in the late 1960s??

[19samtann61]

In the mid/late 1960s I lived in Whittier, CA. I was almost 5 years old when we moved there during the summer of 1965. We moved to Cleveland in December of 1970. I remember a day hearing the sirens being turned on and it was NOT a test date/Friday.

I do not remember the date, month, or even the exact year. I think it was more towards the latter part of the decade - 1967, 68, 69, or even 1970. I do remember I was in the front yard playing some children's game with my older sister and a couple of friends. About all I can recall is it was a clear, sunny day and the sirens came on in the afternoon and stayed on for quite awhile. My mother even came out of the house to see what was going on.

I would think that records would have been kept as to when and why the sirens were turned on. Are there any records that have survived? I think the closest siren would have been #174 at 2927 Whittier Blvd., behind Fire Station 25.

ANY info would be gladly appreciated............

Thanks, Sam

[uncommonsense]

Not necessarily. Especially for severe weather activations. Remember, this was not in an era when computer controls were a thing

[Brendan Ahern]

Probably no records. It could have been a malfunction. That happened in Chicago with the old system. You get a short in a telephone line and some sirens go off.

[Hacksaw]

Sirens all over the Bay Area were activated, when Apollo 11 splashed down.

[Brendan W]

The siren at 2927 Whittier Blvd is still there for the record. It is one of the "birdhouse" model sirens, which I would assume is a Federal of some sorts?

[Unit of Civil Defense]

...Happened once here in Topeka/Shawnee Co. in the late 80's - early 90's as I recall.....middle of the winter 7:30 ...8 o'clock ish at night...malfunction of some sort...

[siren fan]

Probably a malfunction. I vividly remember when I was a kid in the early 90's in Garland, TX a distant Hurricane sounded at night and it seemed like several hours before it was turned off, maybe 10 or 11 pm.

[Daniel]

In most communities in the 1960's, civil defense sirens were tested Saturdays at noon.

[19samtann61]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Does anyone know what local government department in Los Angeles I could contact to see if any records had been made??

I really doubt it was any test because it stayed on for probably more than a half hour.

I have read that the sirens in the Los Angeles area were tested on Friday afternoons. That is kind of strange because I do not ever remember any other time I heard the sirens sound and I lived in the Los Angeles area from when I was born in 1961 until the end of 1970. They must have been very short tests. I do remember the "Duck-and-Cover" drills in school. It is possible that those drills were done on Friday afternoons and I just do not remember hearing the sirens because schools bells were turned on to start the "Duck-and-Cover" drills.

It could not have been any weather issue, as I stated it was a clear and sunny day.

I do think that since these sirens were such an important part of the Civil Defense structure that some kind of written records would have been kept.

Thanks again, Sam

[EOWS1212man]

Fun fact, LA's system was activated for the real deal, an unidentified aircraft was sighted over the city, they thought it may have been an enemy plane from Japan. Since the Pearl Harbor attack happend a few months earlier, they decided to be more safe than sorry.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles
http://www.rense.com/ufo/battleofla.htm

This site may interest you as well: http://losangelesairraidsirens.com