The Siren Board

So here are a few sirens I've photographed up in northern Minnesota where I live. This is my first thread, don't how well this will go over, so just bear with me.

I'll start with a fallen soldier. Williams, MN's Model 5 (or 7) photographed sometime last year. They'd had a FS Eclipse 8 for a few years, so this thing was already out of service, but it was finally just gone one day last year. And that had happened within a course of a week. At some point I'll have to photograph the Eclipse 8, but I haven't been over there in a while.

Next up will be one of Hallock MN's two SD10s. These old beauties are quite nice for their age. I'm assuming the A 2 Serial Number means they were built in '62 or '72 These sirens dodged a bullet in the fall of 2020. During a test the city had a system failure, presumably a radio issue, that resulted in the city's two SD10s and a model 2 failing to deactivate. Each siren was shut down manually before the motors recieved damage. This left Hallock with only an old model 5 atop city hall. I'm sure that old unit served the whole town just fine at one point, but now days I don't think it has enough range.

With sirens in Northern Minnesota seeing some harsh winter weather conditions, a lot of older equipment is rusting, failing, and getting replaced with new Federal Signal equipment. Around the time the Hallock ordeal occured, Karlstad, MN purchased a brand new 2001-130 to replace a rusty Sterling M-10 that was growing unreliable. That being said Hallock recieved a $35,000 estimate to replace their entire system.

Luckily the city went for a cheaper option, an $8,000 radio replacement and these old SD10s will live on for a while. But it's best to enjoy them now, as they likely won't be there forever.

To finish off the photos I currently have, to start here is Lake Bronson, MN's model 5 siren. I'm pretty positive this unit was restored at some point, as it looks very nice for its age. I'm sure this is primarily used for fires and weather warnings, but Lake Bronson does have a dam as well, so I'm sure this is involved with that in some way.

Moving on to my final addition for today, here is a model 2 at the Roseau County Fairgrounds in Roseau, MN. This siren is separate from the Roseau City system, which consists of 2001-130s. I'm sure this was installed at the fairgrounds for weather warnings, as this city is in a severe weather prone region.

In the future I intend to photograph sirens such as Thief River Falls, MN's Thunderbolts and 3T22s, and Warroad, MN's 2001 DC. So stay tuned!