Severe lack of siren coverage in the Washington DC area.

[Stormsetter4]

The Washington DC Metropolitan area once had a 500+ strong system of Thunderbolts and Allertors. 200 of them were Allertors, so it can be assumed that there were around 250-300 Thunderbolts in addition to that number. It was and still holds the title for the largest siren warning system in the world. The Thunderbolts ranged from early 1950's models to as late as the mid 1970's. In 1977-1980 the 200 Allertors went in on the outskirts of the metro to cover the suburbs. Shortly afterwards they were upgraded from phone line control to an ACA Compulert system. It was the only Federally-Owned and funded warning system in the United States with the exception of systems on military bases. It was extremely expensive to maintain, which is the main reason such a system does not exist today. Most were removed in the early 1990's after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and distributed among Midwestern states for storm warning systems.

[tionstav]

I just found a video of a siren test in Washington DC. thought the city and aria around it is mostly a massive siren dead zone the mayland side of the actual city has a few DSA's and Cooper Waves. mostly installed after a recent EF3 struck the college park campus! Apparently they sound the Swiss "wind to high-wind to low" tone.

facinating

[ah11]

Arlington and Alexandria actually tried out an electronic system around 2007. They only had a few sirens in the most dense areas of the county. It was a Cooper Waves system which had both standard Waves speakers and a few generic DSA-like speakers. As far as I know it was last tested in 2012. Most units remain although some have been removed. Here are the locations I remember, in Arlington and still in place unless otherwise noted:
Ben Brenman Park (Alexandria), on top of the restroom building
Orinoco Bay Park (Alexandria), on top of the United Way building (I haven't actually seen this one, but it is referenced in planning documents)
Virginia Highlands Park, next to the restroom building
Clarendon Blvd and N Edgewood St
S Hayes St and 12th St S (removed)
N Courthouse Rd and 14th St N (removed)
Wilson Blvd and Fort Myer Dr (removed)
N Moore St and 19th St N (removed)

The Pentagon has two single celled Whelens in the north and south parking lots respectively.

Fort Myer has some sort of system that plays bugle calls throughout the day. I haven't found any speakers for that yet.

[Allenorgan42099]

To the best of my knowledge, DC's old system consisted mainly of Thunderbolts. The Allertors were added later, mostly in the suburbs, especially at fire stations in Loudoun and Fairfax County, VA. Only three Allertors still remain in Loudoun County, and there was one in PG County, Maryland but it was removed sometime within the last few years. There is a Thunderbolt off of N Glebe Rd in Arlington. Other than those, most of the old DC sirens are gone. After the system was decommissioned (and maybe while it was still operational as well) the Allertors in Loudoun County were used as fire sirens. The only one that may still be active is in Philomont, but it sounds quite sick and its use has been lessened in the past few years due to the fire company moving away from volunteers and towards being completely career-staffed. Other than it, all of the other sirens in the area are not operational. Some areas view sirens as an obsolete and antiquated technology and I think the DC area as a whole pretty much feels that way.

[ah11]

To the best of my knowledge, DC's old system consisted mainly of Thunderbolts. The Allertors were added later, mostly in the suburbs, especially at fire stations in Loudoun and Fairfax County, VA. Only three Allertors still remain in Loudoun County, and there was one in PG County, Maryland but it was removed sometime within the last few years. There is a Thunderbolt off of N Glebe Rd in Arlington. Other than those, most of the old DC sirens are gone. After the system was decommissioned (and maybe while it was still operational as well) the Allertors in Loudoun County were used as fire sirens. The only one that may still be active is in Philomont, but it sounds quite sick and its use has been lessened in the past few years due to the fire company moving away from volunteers and towards being completely career-staffed. Other than it, all of the other sirens in the area are not operational. Some areas view sirens as an obsolete and antiquated technology and I think the DC area as a whole pretty much feels that way.

There must have been a recent effort to remove some remaining sirens. I thought I had found one on street view near Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, but I went over there and there was just a bare patch and some sawdust where they cut the pole. I wonder if the Glebe Rd one had the same fate...

[Allenorgan42099]

To the best of my knowledge, DC's old system consisted mainly of Thunderbolts. The Allertors were added later, mostly in the suburbs, especially at fire stations in Loudoun and Fairfax County, VA. Only three Allertors still remain in Loudoun County, and there was one in PG County, Maryland but it was removed sometime within the last few years. There is a Thunderbolt off of N Glebe Rd in Arlington. Other than those, most of the old DC sirens are gone. After the system was decommissioned (and maybe while it was still operational as well) the Allertors in Loudoun County were used as fire sirens. The only one that may still be active is in Philomont, but it sounds quite sick and its use has been lessened in the past few years due to the fire company moving away from volunteers and towards being completely career-staffed. Other than it, all of the other sirens in the area are not operational. Some areas view sirens as an obsolete and antiquated technology and I think the DC area as a whole pretty much feels that way.

There must have been a recent effort to remove some remaining sirens. I thought I had found one on street view near Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, but I went over there and there was just a bare patch and some sawdust where they cut the pole. I wonder if the Glebe Rd one had the same fate...

I never knew of the Kenmore Middle School one. I believe the Glebe Rd Thunderbolt is still there but not sure. I so hope it hasn't been taken down. Most of the sirens are long, long gone now so I'm not sure if there was any recent effort.

[ah11]

To the best of my knowledge, DC's old system consisted mainly of Thunderbolts. The Allertors were added later, mostly in the suburbs, especially at fire stations in Loudoun and Fairfax County, VA. Only three Allertors still remain in Loudoun County, and there was one in PG County, Maryland but it was removed sometime within the last few years. There is a Thunderbolt off of N Glebe Rd in Arlington. Other than those, most of the old DC sirens are gone. After the system was decommissioned (and maybe while it was still operational as well) the Allertors in Loudoun County were used as fire sirens. The only one that may still be active is in Philomont, but it sounds quite sick and its use has been lessened in the past few years due to the fire company moving away from volunteers and towards being completely career-staffed. Other than it, all of the other sirens in the area are not operational. Some areas view sirens as an obsolete and antiquated technology and I think the DC area as a whole pretty much feels that way.

There must have been a recent effort to remove some remaining sirens. I thought I had found one on street view near Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, but I went over there and there was just a bare patch and some sawdust where they cut the pole. I wonder if the Glebe Rd one had the same fate...

I never knew of the Kenmore Middle School one. I believe the Glebe Rd Thunderbolt is still there but not sure. I so hope it hasn't been taken down. Most of the sirens are long, long gone now so I'm not sure if there was any recent effort.

It was removed very recently, probably fall/winter 2017. It's on the July 2017 street view
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8648691 ... 312!8i6656

[Allenorgan42099]

There must have been a recent effort to remove some remaining sirens. I thought I had found one on street view near Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, but I went over there and there was just a bare patch and some sawdust where they cut the pole. I wonder if the Glebe Rd one had the same fate...

I never knew of the Kenmore Middle School one. I believe the Glebe Rd Thunderbolt is still there but not sure. I so hope it hasn't been taken down. Most of the sirens are long, long gone now so I'm not sure if there was any recent effort.

It was removed very recently, probably fall/winter 2017. It's on the July 2017 street view
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8648691 ... 312!8i6656

Wow! I never even knew it was there! Shame they removed it.

[nvanw27]

Shortly afterwards they were upgraded from phone line control to an ACA Compulert system.

So ACA used the Compulert systems as well? Does that mean they used the current ASC FSK? I had no idea ACA even did anything with Radio Activation.

[FSThunderboltfan1000]

Shortly afterwards they were upgraded from phone line control to an ACA Compulert system.

So ACA used the Compulert systems as well? Does that mean they used the current ASC FSK? I had no idea ACA even did anything with Radio Activation.

Yes Alerting Communicators of America invented Compulert and were the first ones to start using SCADA based FSK for managing warning systems. Here is a Photo of Jim Biersach in 1984 with the Compulert.