The Siren Board

You might be able to contact the city's EMA, and request that they get "re-commissioned" in a different city, or sell them on Ebay/Craigslist, or something along those lines.

The Thunderbolt in that picture appears to be the one that fell over in Salina, KS due to a windstorm. I remember it was a 1000 and fell down with minimal damage to the head, but I can't remember if the head snapped off the standpipe upon impact or was still intact.

I believe the 2T22 was damaged in the Woodward Tornado, and the Whelen was damaged by a car accident near Utica, MI.

If i read this topic correctly, that 2001-130 is from Joplin, MO? If so, that's the first time i've seen actual pictures from joplin, mo regarding the siren(s) being destroyed.

Thunderboltlover wrote:The Thunderbolt in that picture appears to be the one that fell over in Salina, KS due to a windstorm. I remember it was a 1000 and fell down with minimal damage to the head, but I can't remember if the head snapped off the standpipe upon impact or was still intact.

Yea, and right behind it is a brand new 2001 siren!

PugetSoundStormWatch wrote:I believe the 2T22 was damaged in the Woodward Tornado, and the Whelen was damaged by a car accident near Utica, MI.

Yes, and Yes, but I don't know the locations, I just know their stories.

md5 wrote:If i read this topic correctly, that 2001-130 is from Joplin, MO? If so, that's the first time i've seen actual pictures from Joplin, mo regarding the siren(s) being destroyed.

Yup, I just Googled "fallen tornado siren" but I can't find this one [the 2001] anymore.

This thread went way off track. I came to read about O'Fallons sirens, not everyone elses. If it's Global Tech who is handling the removals, good luck. They don't like dealing with private parties when it comes to sirens. On more than one occasion I have tried to get a hold of some older 3016s from STL County and they raised the red flag.

Thank you, Crazywarriorman, since I was feeling the same way about this thread! I don't mind a few off-topic comments but it got a little crazy there. Not trying to dis anyone here, but let's stay on topic!

I didn't attempt to ask the City of O'Fallon or Global Tech if the 3016 laying on the ground was available. I didn't feel like dealing with it, plus I really did think that they'd want to keep it for parts for the remaining 3016s. That was a no brainer for them....I thought!

So do you think Global is stretching the truth a little bit about parts for the 4003 being "hard to come by" in a few years, even though it's still in production? I would think that those parts would still be available for at least the next fifteen to twenty years. There are a lot of these sirens out there and still being produced, so there would be plenty of unhappy Whelen customers "in a few years" if they need parts for their town's/city's 4003s and they're "not available", when these sirens aren't that old.

Sorry about creating the off topic discussion... But in times where [mostly] everyone is trying to save a few dollars, would save them for parts. So yea, that would be a no brainer!!


I think they would be stretching the truth, about the parts being hard to come by, because it makes the company more money.

To top things off, it's a dishonest business practice on Global's part, IF they are lying to the city.

To get to the heart of the truth I'd have to call Whelen to see if parts for the 4003 really will be "hard to come by" in a few years. They may not be aware of false information being given to these cities, if it's false in the first place.

The good thing is that O'Fallon only has two 4003s. The 3016 went into production over thirty years ago, so I can see those parts actually being scarce in the next few years. But the 4003s parts? Not sure if I buy that.

I'm a taxpayer of O'Fallon, and being a siren buff and knowing things that I do, like this particular situation, I feel like the city is being ripped off, and it kind of ticks me off. On one hand I'm all for replacing the two 4003s, since they're eighteen years old (it's not like they're T-Bolts and still in their prime!), with brand new omnidirectional 2909s. On the other hand the city shouldn't be given a bill of goods by a company that's lying to them, if that's what's even going on.

For all I know maybe Whelen does have intentions of discontinuing the 4003 and stopping production of parts. Then again, Global's definition of "parts being hard to find in a few years" may be farther off than they want to admit to, just to make two more siren sales to a gullable city.

FedTB wrote:On one hand I'm all for replacing the two 4003s, since they're eighteen years old.

I would have to disagree with that statement. I doubt that those 4003s are 18 yrs. old. Whelen switched/modified the shell used on their 4000 series sometime around the early 2000s. Before that, most if not all used a 3016-style head with embossed sides and outer screen with an "X" even though the brochures found online seem to show the current design. What I'm seeing are two units produced little there after the minor switch.

Even if it's 18 yrs. old, there should be no reason as to replace them. Personally, I believe that as long as the siren works and there are very little to no flaws, keep it. Now if there were constant activation problems or if there is something wrong that is unfixable, an easy control upgrade would be more affordable.

Being that the 4000 series has been in production for more than 22-ish years and seems to be a successful product, I wouldn't think Whelen would yank the cord on making them within several years from now.