Waldport, Oregon Tsunami Siren Test

[Chris C.]

Today there was a tsunami evacuation drill on the central Oregon coast that included testing the sirens in several places, including Waldport. Waldport is a small town with two single tone thunderbolts very close together. I think they must have manually activated the sirens because they only sounded for about 40 seconds in alert, even though the state recently decided that all tsunami sirens should sound in attack.

Here is the link to my video of the test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF5jDWXOdtg

My camera is sitting on a rock about halfway between the two Thunderbolts, looking out at the Yaquina Bay Bridge (U.S. Highway 101). One Thunderbolt is right in downtown behind the grocery store and the other is in a residential area near the boat launch to the northeast.

About 5 minutes after the thunderbolts were done, I heard an electronic siren sounding in attack from across the bay. After driving over there I discovered a new rotating electronic siren that appears to be a Whelen, at the intersection of NW Ocenia Drive and NW Westward Ho Drive.

[Travis]

That is a great quick ambiance recording! Sounds like they don't have the blower delay set for more than about 2 seconds.

[t-bolt82]

Love hearing the multiple sirens all fire up, one right after the other! Thanks!

[Daniel]

Great recording! I can never seem to be in Waldport at the right time. It sounds like they are rotating, which they didn't do when I was there, but next time you are there, you might ask someone at the fire station about setting the blower timers longer.

[Chris C.]

I was going to send an email or something to whoever is in charge over there about the sirens and some other things in general (the Tsunami Exvacuation Route signs are very small and hard to see, even when walking down the sidewalk, etc.). I was also going to mention that the blower was mistimed, which would make an attack signal sound very strange.

I also heard a news story on the radio today that said that Oregon hopes to hold as many as four drills per year, on different segments of the coast. Maybe opportunities for more recordings in the future.

[Chris C.]

I was going to send an email or something to whoever is in charge over there about the sirens and some other things in general (the Tsunami Exvacuation Route signs are very small and hard to see, even when walking down the sidewalk, etc.). I was also going to mention that the blower was mistimed, which would make an attack signal sound very strange.

I also heard a news story on the radio today that said that Oregon hopes to hold as many as four drills per year, on different segments of the coast. Maybe opportunities for more recordings in the future.

[ver tum]

Sounds like 1 Thunderbolt with a whole lot of echo, unless of course they have all their Thunderbolts set to exactly the same pitch. Great echo!

[Daniel]

The Waldport Fire District maintains those sirens. When I recorded them, the west siren (nearest the camera in this new recording) did not operate and the center and east sirens did not rotate. My suggestions would be to repair the rotating motors, lengthen the delay on the blower timers, and lower the chopper levels to about 1 or 2 for better penetration and distance.