Maricopa County, Arizona Sirens

[Westgate Thunderbolt]

This last Friday I asked permission to take some photographs of one of the few Thunderbolt locations left in Phoenix, Arizona. This location has been photographed and posted on here before, but not actually from within the property as it is a pretty well fenced and gated campus. Unfortunately the sun was on its way down when I got there, so some of the photographs turned out a little dark, but I wasn't going to leave empty handed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58979889@N06/5402958346/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58979889@N06/5402311049/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58979889@N06/5402930488/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58979889@N06/5403122108/

One of the ladies I spoke with when I checked out at the front desk said that she remembered this siren sounding at noon when she moved in the neighborhood back in 1973. One of the electrical boxes is manufacturer date stamped August 1994, so the electrical must have been upgraded around that time.

This is one low siren. I am guessing 20 feet maximum, but probably less. There are homes neighboring the building the siren is attached to just on the other side of the fence. It must have one bad day for those residents on test day .

My next adventure is to try and get pictures of the Thunderbolt on the roof of the Maricopa County office building in down town Phoenix. That one may be a bit more tricky since it is a government office building and it is almost next to the Maricopa County Jail.

Justin

[kx250rider]

Nice pics!

I bet those Thunderbolts are in the best condition (rust-free) of those any other states. I sure hope they go to collectors some day. Even many of the SoCal Thunderbolts are fairly rusty; at least as seen from street level.

Charles

[azman798]

Maricopa County, Arizona is a mystery when it comes to it's old Civil Defense warning system. No one in office is familiar at all with the plans/system, even though (from what I have been able to put together) it was abandoned in 1996.

However I am proud to say it's system was made of rarities so far, such as the HOR's that use to be in Scottsdale, and now the few Jailbar Thunderbolts that remain silent in Phoenix.

[Allertor113]

That first thunderbolt is the one that Tboltmaniac was trying to get.
Great pictures man!

[Westgate Thunderbolt]

That first thunderbolt is the one that Tboltmaniac was trying to get.

The photos are all of the same installation.

It would be easy to get and hard to get at the same time. It all depends on how they would allow it to be taken down, if at all.

It is an easy take down because the whole installation is so low to the ground. The blower is pad mounted on ground level and you can sand "eye to eye" with the siren if you were on the roof.

It is a hard take down because there is almost no way to pick it with a boom truck. Not seen in the pictures is the power transformer and lines just a few feet away feeding the neighboring residents, and probably that Thunderbolt at one time. The lines run East and West parallel with the building to the transformer pole and run North and South at a 90 degree angle. The only other way is blocked because there are low overhead roofing structures for the walkway below. This is probably the only reason it is still here.

Justin

[Allertor113]

You could probably get a ladder and some sort of pulley system or another ladder and some big strong tough guy, and get on the roof and take it down peice by peice.

[weasel2htm]

You could probably get a ladder and some sort of pulley system or another ladder and some big strong tough guy, and get on the roof and take it down peice by peice.

Where's kx250rider when you need him...

[t-bolt82]

Great pics ya got there - thanks!

[Hacksaw]

I bet those Thunderbolts are in the best condition (rust-free) of those any other states.

I was going to say low on rust in AZ, but sandblasted is a hazard there. The paint looks better on the Tbolt that the AZ SD-10's in another thread some months ago.

And, It has the old style tic-tac-toe grill, which seems to date them to the 1950's, though that's not for sure.

[Thunderboltlover]

It would go pretty quickly if you hired a crane to remove the head and assist you with the blower. You could remove the head yourself too, but it's dangerous to try to take the horn off without anything to support it, and the rotator box is way too heavy, even if you took the chopper out before you took it off the standpipe. The electrical boxes should be a piece of cake to remove, as long as the screws aren't held in the wall too tightly.

If I were you, I'd have a crane hook up to the head, and then cut the standpipe right above the roof. You could then have the crane lay the head in a trailer, and have them pick up the blower and set it in the trailer also.

You could probably also do it with a bucket truck yourself. You'd just take the horn off, remove the head (probably in two or more pieces), and disassemble the blower.