CTsirenhunter intro/sirens in Hartford County, CT

[Hacksaw]

My bad, picture 2 is a Model 2.

[3t22]

It was last year some time...you know, it was probably a Model 2, since 3t22 said they have a fast windup...could a 2 windup be mistaken for a Whelen at all?

it can, but they have a full wind down, which is also quick. As mentioned I'll be at our WS 2008 for this month's test, I'll be recording it (as well as Station 441's 12 port 5 from my new apartment, which is about 1 block away), I'll post the recordings. I'll may still have a recording of our 2 and the 3T22 sounding durring June's test. I'll see if I can dig that up.

Ok, about those Thunderbolts in Hartford...can anyone tell me exactly where they are? I may have passed them hundreds of times and never known it!

Here's a few I can name off the top of my head.

On Jenning's Rd, right off I-91. Best route to get to it, is from I-91 north, take exit 33, make a left off the ramp, than make a left at the 1st light you come to. Go about .4 like and look to your left, you can't miss it. you can also see it very well from I-91 north from the overpass just before exit 33.

on top of the courthouse hear Hartford Hospital. This one is the only gray one I know of in the city, and is also visable from I-91.

on top of the FD near the University of Hartford

by BJ's. this can also be seen from I-91 north.

on the corners of Waterford St and Newington Rd.

There's a few others scattered around the city as well. I may still have some pics of the one on Waterford St, as well as one close to U-hart (not the one on the FD). I'll see if I can dig those up. There was one on top of the Hartford Courant (the biggest newspaper in the state) building, which could be seen from I-84, but that has been removed.

there's also a 2 on Mountain Rd in Newington, and Rocky Hill has at least 2 non functioning 5Ts. One is sitting on a pole near an office building on the Silas Dean parkway, near Parsonage St. You can't miss it. I only found out it's a 5T, while stopped at the light at Parsonage, with the sun hitting it just right for me to see the rotor/stator clearly. There's another burried in the trees on the silas dean near the Cromwell line, just before Station 3. You have to look very hard to spot it. There's also a few CD yellow Ds scattered around as well. Also if you ever go on a road trip, up in Lee Ma. at their FD, which is across from the bus station, is a T-beam, unknown if they use it or not, I'll assume and hope they do, also Springfield has a few Mobile Directos scattered about. One can be scene on top of a building from I-91 hear the basketball hall of fame.

EDIT: here's June's test from my old house, featuring the 2 (the lower pitched siren, also the last one to stop), and the 3T22 (which runs higher pitched than normal, without the dampers engaged) with activation (the DTMF you hear after the morse code) http://media.putfile.com/Vernon-June-6th-siren-test. I'll get a better recording if it either next month or in Feburary.

[Rheems1]

I am currently on vaction from work and have decided that I will be making a trip to Maine to get away for a little bit. I have plans for some fire apparatus photography in Ct along the way, so hopefully I will be able to photograph some sirens as well. Here is where I am going (in no particular order):

New Canaan
All 6 Stations in Ansonia
Mortlake (Brooklyn)
2 Stations in Seymour
Bethany
Trumbull Center (Main Station)
2 Stations in Nichols
Windsor Locks
2 stations in Windsor (Wilson and Poquonock Station 1)

Please, don't ruin the surprise for me if you know the siren (if there is one) at any of these stations. Also, if you read this Dan (Drega)... give me a call at 717-278-7327 so we can maybe hook up on Sunday for lunch or something.

Dave "Leaving for Maine Tomorrow" Fritz

[CTsirenhunter]

3t22: I found some of the T-bolts on Windows Live maps, but there are some I didn't even know how to begin looking for.

-I know exactly where the University of Hartford is, but since when was there a fire station anywhere near it?
-Where is this courthouse that is both near Hartford Hospital and visible from I-91?
-Where's the other one near Uhart?
-Where is this BJ's that has one nearby? I presume it's north of the city center, right?

[CTsirenhunter]

I found one of the Meriden T-bolts on a map! It's in the roughly northeast corner of the Sacred Heart cemetery on South Broad Street (Route 5).

[3t22]

3t22: I found some of the T-bolts on Windows Live maps, but there are some I didn't even know how to begin looking for.

-I know exactly where the University of Hartford is, but since when was there a fire station anywhere near it?
-Where is this courthouse that is both near Hartford Hospital and visible from I-91?
-Where's the other one near Uhart?
-Where is this BJ's that has one nearby? I presume it's north of the city center, right?

The Courthouse is near Central Row. I'll see if I can find the exact street. The FD is not very close to Uhart. It's a small station, making the T-bolt look enormous. The bolt near BJ's is by some factory. You can see it if you look hard enough way in the back by a blue building off I-91. The other near Uhart was on a green (not Bushnal Park). I'll dig up the pics.

The Meriden T-bolt you saw on windows live, I thought was long gone. I last saw it in 1988, and tried to find it last year with no success. There's another on the corners of East Main St and Maple. You can walk right up to this one, if you don't mind weird stares, as there's a bus stop right on the corner (I've gotten plenty at this spot, so I'm use to it) . I've parked in the old Ames lot to get pics of it. I'll dig those up as well. I believe these along with most if not all of Hartfords are 1000s, but there maybe a few 1000Ts mixed in Hartford's system. I heard 2 siren sounding while attending a summer camp at Uhart in attack back in 1993. One was clearly a 1000, the other had this odd sound, which I very highly suspect was a 1000T set on a high chopper speed.

[CTsirenhunter]

First of all, thanks Dan. I can call you Dan, right? And no, I'm not giving out my real name.

Second of all, great news that makes some of Dan's info no longer needed. I'll introduce it in the form of a riddle:

Q: What's better than the CT Siren Hunter finding the two mysterious near-Uhart Thunderbolts on a map?
A: The CT Siren Hunter realizing that he's actually seen one of the T-bolts multiple times!!!

Yes folks, I lied to you by accident about never having seen a Thunderbolt before. Allow me to explain...
See, the route that my school takes whenever they need to get us on I-91 for a trip takes us right by a certain tiny police station (sorry Dan, I believe you got your emergency services confused...). It has a funky modern architecture, with a vibrant yellow and blue color scheme. Now, on one of our passes by it, I remember marveling at its strangeness...and then I saw something even stranger at the end of the same block. It was a pole, and halfway up the pole was a large faded yellow box, looking to me like a generator. And on top of the pole was what looked to me like a standard PA system loudspeaker, but it was about ten times the size of one, not to mention a faded yellow in color. Noting that this was a police station in a fairly bad area, I decided that the giant horn-thing must be for crowd-control purposes of sorts if major violence broke out around the little police station. I had basically never heard of air raid sirens(I only thought they were for volunteer fire departments, something Hartford clearly didn't have), let alone Thunderbolts. Only now, after having passed by the darn thing at least five if not closer to ten times in my life, do I realize what it actually was.

I really, really hope it's still there.

And the other one is on the grassy, tree-lined divider on a divided road, not too far from the one just mentioned. I believe I have also been by this one, or at least almost been by it, once before, only a few months ago!

Also, found Central Row or whatever in Hartford, but what's the courthouse look like?

One more thing...I forgot that somewhere out in Litchfield County, there's this reservoir/dam with a small hydroelectric plant. I've been inside the dam, I've been inside the hydroelectric plant and seen the turbines, and...I've seen the warning sirens. I think they were just more WPS's, but I can clearly remember the guy who was giving the tour saying that if the dam broke, those sirens would sound, and everyone in a particular area downriver would have fifteen minutes to evacuate before they found themselves underwater. That scared me quite a bit at the time!

[Rheems1]

Daniel- Thanks, and no, I'm not some sort of lit major, I just happen to know what a pergola is. Wait a minute...I didn't even mean pergola! Only a fire station built in..say...craftsman style or something would have a pergola on it. I meant cupola, which is much more likely to be sitting on top of a New England fire station.

3t22- You still are a CT siren hunter, but now you're not the only CT siren hunter. Thanks for all the info. A few comments of my own:
-That Windsor Diaphone may have been just a trick of the light or something. It looked like a Diaphone as I drove by, but maybe I just thought it was one because I was in a siren-hunting mood.
-The Model 2 in Avon is most likely inactive. In all my years of going to that mall, I've never heard it go off. It also looks to be in pretty bad condition. I suspect the same is true of the one in Canton. Their central fire station just up the road from Collinsville seems to have no siren at all, though I can't be sure because I saw the place at night. I actually don't think there's a siren on Avon's central station either. But the STH-10 (or maybe it's a 2t22 chopped in half, but I don't think that's possible...) on the station by the high school is definitely there.
-I believe there is a 2t22 or 3t22 alongside the railroad tracks running parallel to I-84 shortly after it passes by the Tilcon facility. It maybe gone now, I don't know. It's on your right if you are headed towards New York.

To EVERYONE out there, I'm wondering...
-Has anyone seen that Model 5 or 7 in the general area of Haverford, PA?
-Does anyone have information about sirens in Glen Rock, NJ? My cousin lives there, and I was at a party at his house, which is right by an elementary school, and suddenly a siren (sounded electronic, I think) went off, sounding like it was right on top of us. So...yeah, I'm curious about that.

I live in Pa and have been to all of the Haverford Township Fire Departments. There are 2 stations in Haverford Township that have Model 5's, the first one is Llanarch (pronounced Lan-ark) which is on Route 3 and the other one is Oakmont which is closer to downtown Haverford (if there is such a thing). The Model 5 at Llanarch is an 8 port, there is a picture and a recording up on the Siren Archive of this siren (Under Delaware County, Pa). The Oakmont siren is most likely a 12 port siren but I have never heard this one go off. The other Haverford Township stations are as follows:

Manoa-Sentry 3V8 which replaced a Fedalcode Model 5 (which has not worked for going on 10 years)
Brookline- STH-10 on a tower on thier firehouse
Bon Air- Diaphram horn


Dave Fritz

[dboyle]

funny.... I was just in CT over the weekend.

[Rheems1]

As was I!! I didn't see much, but here is what I found while out and about on my way to and from Maine.

Trumbull Center Fire Department Station 2- Silver 2T22
Nichols Fire Department Station 1- Federal Model 5 (non-working) and a Federal Model 2
Poquonock Fire Department Station 2 (Windsor)-Whelen 3016
Windsor Locks Fire Department- Diaphram horn and a Whelen 2805
Waterbury- Federal Thunderbolt visible from Route 84...looks to be on the City Hall possibly.
Ansonia- Diaphones (I would have gotten a photograph.. but I was pretty sure that someone would have rolled me and stole my camera, my car and every penny I had on my person).

That is the list of what I found while in Ct, on a side note I did manage to snap a picture of one of the Mobile-Directo sirens in Springfield, Mass.



Dave Fritz