Thunderbolts around Anne Arundel & Howard Counties, MD

[EastCoastFilmer]

On my way home from Pikesville, I went over to the Jessup, MD area to grab some pictures of a system of 6 Thunderbolt 1000(T)'s straddling the Anne Arundel & Howard County line. From doing research, their purpose is/was to warn the area of an escape from any of the 8 area prisons. I found the installs of these Thunderbolts interesting; each is on a 25 foot pole and has a large cabinet bearing some resemblance to those formerly in Defiance, OH and various nuke plant installs. Each cabinet also has a light mounted to the side, and the radios are mounted higher up on the pole; about level with the blowers.

Current information on this system has been somewhat difficult to find; some dated articles suggest that the system is/was tested either every other or every Saturday at noon; however, another article from 2009 indicates that the system was to eventually be phased out in favor of Reverse 911. It's difficult to tell whether these bolts are still active or not, as only one of the sirens I visited has significantly changed direction since the most recent Street View image. From an optimistic standpoint, however, the electrical meters on the poles still show electricity going into them. If I have time on 2 consecutive Saturdays anytime soon, I'll try to go back and see if anything happens.

For now, here's the photos I took of 3 of the 6 sirens in the system. The other 3 are on prison property.

Thunderbolt 1000(T), End of Brookdale Drive, Elkridge, MD:
36E22DEA-00A5-4453-8C81-2B52C4FFD430 by Ethan K, on Flickr
BB0D9213-BA86-4F4E-A8C9-4194ECEAC2C3 by Ethan K, on Flickr
107D598E-40E0-4939-A88A-F88B8F1B7549 by Ethan K, on Flickr
88428333-9575-46CF-9443-705FDB5050E8 by Ethan K, on Flickr
D72588D5-E7E3-43DC-9581-A672577CEE14 by Ethan K, on Flickr
Thunderbolt 1000(T), Jessup Dorsey Park, Hanover, MD:
41927122-9FB1-4E2D-8415-474B7142E1A7 by Ethan K, on Flickr
B3F13A38-E4FA-4BDB-893F-71366E293689 by Ethan K, on Flickr
2EF23A07-4C48-42EB-B73F-0AAF83D4A419 by Ethan K, on Flickr
4C9BC4F1-F01C-488D-8F52-05D48372E3F6 by Ethan K, on Flickr
480A8518-4F41-44B5-A36B-F9B442ECE401 by Ethan K, on Flickr
Thunderbolt 1000(T), Jessup Park, Hanover, MD:
B8911349-F8EF-43B0-A499-A38B2DE4F953 by Ethan K, on Flickr
D3310560-EC4A-4DCE-8BE2-D7C1475E978D by Ethan K, on Flickr
5DD13871-C95E-4D7E-A3B8-DAF8E2B3316E by Ethan K, on Flickr
FF044D6B-880E-4C46-83C2-099BF4BB4C64 by Ethan K, on Flickr
4C749D47-128C-4A45-9558-6DC935616CA3 by Ethan K, on Flickr
BBCFAE12-013E-47A2-AFD4-8291F4598C6E by Ethan K, on Flickr
41F8FC39-2950-4E45-B0F0-F57B897FFED8 by Ethan K, on Flickr

[siren fan]

Not to be off topic here but why do some municipalities run meters on sirens?

[EastCoastFilmer]

Not to be off topic here but why do some municipalities run meters on sirens?

These sirens are operated by the Maryland Department of Corrections, and the meters have the BGE logo on them, so my guess is that they are there to measure the energy consumption, likely for electrical billing purposes by BGE. The meters were likely installed by BGE, not the municipality.

[JasonC]

Not to be off topic here but why do some municipalities run meters on sirens?

Because sirens use power to operate and the power company charges money for power usage.

[nvanw27]

Interesting. Those are newer FC radio cabinets on the pole (silver box with black handle), and on the first bolt, you can see the remains of a Telephone Network Interface, meaning that these were telephone-line activated at one point. Very nice & Interesting pictures/system!

[Brendan W]

Nice photos! It's good to see that someone documented at least some of the 'bolts. If memory serves me right, these guys went up around 1980.