DeKalb County, Georgia Thunderbolts

[Brendan W]

Another bump that has to do with my thoughts. Yahoo...

I almost wonder, are there any records somewhere of the purchase of the sirens by DeKalb, or maybe even a location sheet for their old system? One can assume that at least some sort of records must be somewhere of the whole thing. And another thing, I wonder if any of the sirens have shown up in photos besides the one at Fire Station 12 showing up in a 1980's photo...

[Fearguy1234]

I do wonder where towns keep their old civil defence records, if they keep them at all.

[Brendan W]

Last link has a whelen. The square pole my guess would be a 500, 550ATish siren?

Umm... what are you referring to?

[Brendan W]

Yet another bump, but my mom told me a bit of info about their siren system (She lived in DeKalb in the '70s and '80s)

She told me the stone mountain siren may have been originally installed in downtown Tucker near their high school smack dab in the middle of downtown. She told me that she drove on GA-236 (the road on the school is on) around 1979 or 1980 to go to a restaurant in Stone Mountain, and she told me she saw something that was yellow and had a big box. I asked her if it looked like... well, a thunderbolt since pretty much my whole family knows I own one, and she told me it looked exactly like one to her. I checked out the school on google earth, the siren was obviously moved before 1993, as it does not appear on imagery from 1993 or later, but the thunderbolt pole in downtown Stone Mountain shows up in 1993 imagery, it is, of course, an empty pole.

On another note, I may have mentioned this, but she told me that she used to live near the thunderbolt that was on Green Forrest Drive. She went to Columbia High School in the '70s (graduated in 1976), and she would always see that one every morning. She told me she heard it go off for a test back in 1974 or 1975, and commented on how absurdly loud it was, and how it rattled the windows of the house she lived in, which, incidentally, was on Green Forrest Dr.

Another story she told me was her first job was off of Medlock Road in Deatur working at a mcdonalds or something (cannot remember what) as a cashier (which was again, 1974 or 1975), and she would almost always go up PDL to get there, and she told me she caught a couple of glimpses of the siren at the now gone Suburban Plaza shopping center. She did comment saying that one of the boxes looked like it was shot up pretty well. I suspect that that siren is now #22 in Cobb's system, which is a thunderbolt with a shot up rotator box.

[Brendan W]

I know I am resurrecting one of my older posts, but at least I have relevant information!

1. I was sent a clip by a friend from WAGA in 1984. This is dealing with severe weather awareness week that year. The newscaster namechecks Oak Grove School (still has the siren) and even includes a clip of one sounding! I am absolutely certain the filmed siren was the one at Stone Mountain Depot (City hall when this was filmed). The black blower pipe and skinny pole give it away. It was the only one in the system that had that. The rest had thick poles and yellow pipes. The tree visible in shot gives it away as well as there was a really big tree by it that was removed when I was about 4, around 2002. They removed it to put in a small comms tower.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFv2YsYwDOg
(siren is at 0:44)

Compare it to this streetview of the pole:
https://goo.gl/maps/DDFptgew2Xw

2. Don't know if I mentioned this or not, but the Medlock Rd. pole was removed in 2015. A walmart stands in its place.

3. I contacted DeKalb County EMA about the former system. I emailed asking about locations (I still have 6 left to try and track down) and was quite surprised at the response I got. The man I spoke to said they actually heard about me because of the old locations map I made a long time ago. They told me they actually liked my work. However, they told me they did not find any documentation about old sirens but they said they'd check for me. In the event anything turns up they said they'll send it along.

[Brendan W]

Well, site 23 has been found! I was checking out Vanishing Georgia, and I found a picture of a former DeKalb FD (Demolished 2007), and what I dismissed as a comms tower is actually a siren pole. This station is now the parking lot of Chamblee City Hall. I know the photo is a bit hard to see, but after talking to a family friend who used to live in the general area, he confirmed there was in fact a Thunderbolt at the FD in this picture. The photo is from 1971.

dek364-85.jpg (109.72 KiB) Viewed 4696 times

This is the first site I have found in at least a couple years. With that being said, I have a gut feeling that the remaining 5 undiscovered locations have met the same fate as this, Snapfinger Rd, and Medlock Rd. Removed.

[Brendan W]

Well, two more sites have been found. Tucker HS before it got remodeled and the Chestnut School, near Peachford Hospital. Chestnut I believe has the original pole. In the attachment is what I believe to be a Tbolt pole. Either that or I'm just seeing things:

file.png (3.31 MiB) Viewed 4579 times