Buffalo, NY Area Sirens

[Modulator Master II]

I have found these a couple minutes ago:

Sterling? - http://tinyurl.com/3c3tknb

Yes that is a Sterling siren, with modified air intakes, which I see a lot here in St. Micheals, PA.

[SirenMadness]

Are those just intakes or are there dampers in there, too?

[Jmayer621]

I'm a Cheektowaga firefighter. That siren is located in the town of Cheektowaga, not Buffalo. Doyle fire District no longer uses sirens. The only fire district that uses a siren in Cheektowaga is Bellevue VFD.

[EOWS1212man]

The town of Depew just outside of Buffalo uses a couple of STL-10s and a diaphone for fire calls. Very creepy ambiance if you ever get the chance to hear it.

Edit: Found video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt9bWt0G_zA

[cl94]

Now that someone revived this thread...

From what I can tell, Erie County used STL-10s with the occasional STH-10 thrown in. This one near the Buffalo Zoo was still up as of last week. I found one near I-190 Exit 4 in the summer of 2015 when I was doing traffic counts for the state at a nearby intersection ( https://www.google.com/maps/@42.8667743 ... 312!8i6656 ). I have found similar inactive sirens nowhere near fire halls in the suburbs as well, such as this one on Maple Rd in Amherst (since removed), another a couple miles down the road (still up), and a third a mile further down (also still up).

[mlhbuffny]

All the areas outside of Buffalo have warning sirens and they used to all have air raid sirens as well. Unfortunately the majority of the air raid sirens have been removed. A lot of the fire companies had an air raid siren on their property. Such as the volunteer stations in Hamburg, Eden, North Boston etc. They are starting to remove the Fire Department Sirens due to complaint of the noise and the new equipment they carry right with them. Sadly, the only way to warn anybody
now is going to be through televisions, radios, and cell phones.

[STL-10]

Southtowns native here (West Seneca/Orchard Park/Hamburg)...

I know of two other STL-10s in West Seneca. All appear to be connected to the power grid and I have personally heard 2 running in my lifetime.

This one on Center Road outside WS East Elementary:

Center Road.JPG (136.97 KiB) Viewed 6216 times

This one on Leydecker at Seneca. I can remember hearing this one from my childhood home on Mill Rd:

Leydecker.JPG (58.55 KiB) Viewed 6216 times

There are also two other STL-10s in West Seneca (mentioned elsewhere on this forum so i won't re-post them). The one STL-10 at Union and Main sent my whole pre-school class into a frenzy as we were eating lunch on the lawn while on a field trip at the town hall across the street. That low-tone STL growled up for it's noon whistle and cue 15 kids covering their ears. This must have been about 1990.

IIRC, there was an STL-10 at the corner of East and West Road at Orchard Park Road. I remember it being there as late as 1993, but my memory is foggy and Google earth does not show it as of today. There may also have been one down by Union Rd and Orchard Park Rd by the triangle but again this is going back 25 years or so.

I know many of the other towns had STLs but I am sure a lot of them have been removed over the years.

[carexpertandy]

Here's a link to my old thread on West Seneca. The other STL-10 is on Clinton St. in front of a small airport. The Model 2 at Clinton & Northwood is gone. As of January 2017, the Fedelcode Model 5 at the Berg Rd. fire station had the top half of the housing missing.

https://thesirenboard.com/forums/viewto ... +my#p70639

[STL-10]

Here's a link to my old thread on West Seneca.

I lurked on that thread for a long time before joining this site. It is what inspired me to map all the sirens in the Buffalo Southtowns.

However, I would really like to know the provenance of these West Seneca sirens. My family is from West Seneca and I recall my dad telling me about the air raid drills in the early 60s. He lived and attended school well within the audible range of all these STL-10s. I believe they were installed sometime around 1955, when Buffalo was ramping up its Civil Defense plan. He has long since passed, so any new info was taken to the grave with him.

Can anyone tell the difference between a 3 phase and single phase STL-10 externally?

[carexpertandy]

Not trying to get too off topic, but my mom was born in Buffalo, living in south Buffalo from birth until about age 5, and her family moved to West Seneca after. She attended Allendale Elementary School on Orchard Park Road, very close to the Berg Road fire station. She told me that the sirens would go off at noon everyday like they might still do today. She also talked about doing air raid drills in school. My grandparents lived in West Seneca up until my grandfather died in January 2017, and my grandmother now lives in a facility in another part of town. I have one great aunt still living in West Seneca, while other relatives and friends live in places like Lancaster, Clarence, Cheektowaga, Orchard Park, Hamburg, Springville, and some other areas.