Narrabean NSW's Damaged & Inactive Grifco 888 Photos
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2022 6:25 am
So I figured I post this here and let you all see the most chaotic looking siren I have ever seen 
. This Grifco 888 is located at the Narrabean Fire and Rescue in (obviously) Narrabean NSW. A while before I visited this siren I was given options for sirens to see. I noticed this 888 located at Sydney's Northern Beaches and since it wasn't far from me I decided to take a trip to see it. On google street view it shows the siren still on the mount in December 2021 with the housing missing the lower louvre, when I saw this in real life it was completely off the mount, and on the roof of this two storey fire station, I was able to use my Powershot's zoom as a great advantage and could zoom straight to where the chopper and top of stator was exposed. Yes these do look very similar to Model 2s but have some different designs to them. And also yes this siren actually fell off its mount, which was really dangerous to pedestrians. This was high up and could actually fall and possibly hurt someone (We let Narrabean Fire and Rescue know ASAP about this danger). Since Narrabean is in the area of Forestville NSW I was able to give an approximate date of when this fell. Reading through articles about a "Freak Storm" and a "Mini Tornado" in Forestville of December 19th 2021 made more logic to me, this storm created strong winds to the surrounding suburbs of the Northern Beaches and was enough to push this siren off of its mount causing it to fall and slam onto the roof. Which most of the housing was damaged and took a heavy beating. What didn't help the siren and mount was the salt air. I'm no science guy but salt air can slowly rust metal that surrounds beaches. Over the years of rust build up it weakened the siren more causing the lower louvre to fall off and later on was able to be pushed off by wind. (Street view photos provided for the damage of both sea salt air rusting the housing and before it fell). Back to when Me and Zach contacted the fire station, they responded fairly quick for a fire station on FB, they acknowledged the concern and reported it. We asked what their ideas are to what they will do with the siren (we tried asking them if we could offer taking the siren), they said "we plan to restore it" and we thought what? but if that's what they want we respectfully left it with that. Not sure how they can find parts and stuff for it as these are difficult to restore unless its just a repaint since these aren't made anymore and none are used for spare parts.
Now for the basic info on this 888. This 888 fire siren does not have a test procedure, like most stations in NSW they do not test their sirens or do not use them. Most are out of use like this one are kept up on this station for historical display. Most Australian fire stations keep their siren up (if out of use) as historical display. 5 port brushed motor, and other Model 2 specs. Photos taken on February 13th 2022.
Anyways enjoy this lengthy post!
. This Grifco 888 is located at the Narrabean Fire and Rescue in (obviously) Narrabean NSW. A while before I visited this siren I was given options for sirens to see. I noticed this 888 located at Sydney's Northern Beaches and since it wasn't far from me I decided to take a trip to see it. On google street view it shows the siren still on the mount in December 2021 with the housing missing the lower louvre, when I saw this in real life it was completely off the mount, and on the roof of this two storey fire station, I was able to use my Powershot's zoom as a great advantage and could zoom straight to where the chopper and top of stator was exposed. Yes these do look very similar to Model 2s but have some different designs to them. And also yes this siren actually fell off its mount, which was really dangerous to pedestrians. This was high up and could actually fall and possibly hurt someone (We let Narrabean Fire and Rescue know ASAP about this danger). Since Narrabean is in the area of Forestville NSW I was able to give an approximate date of when this fell. Reading through articles about a "Freak Storm" and a "Mini Tornado" in Forestville of December 19th 2021 made more logic to me, this storm created strong winds to the surrounding suburbs of the Northern Beaches and was enough to push this siren off of its mount causing it to fall and slam onto the roof. Which most of the housing was damaged and took a heavy beating. What didn't help the siren and mount was the salt air. I'm no science guy but salt air can slowly rust metal that surrounds beaches. Over the years of rust build up it weakened the siren more causing the lower louvre to fall off and later on was able to be pushed off by wind. (Street view photos provided for the damage of both sea salt air rusting the housing and before it fell). Back to when Me and Zach contacted the fire station, they responded fairly quick for a fire station on FB, they acknowledged the concern and reported it. We asked what their ideas are to what they will do with the siren (we tried asking them if we could offer taking the siren), they said "we plan to restore it" and we thought what? but if that's what they want we respectfully left it with that. Not sure how they can find parts and stuff for it as these are difficult to restore unless its just a repaint since these aren't made anymore and none are used for spare parts. Now for the basic info on this 888. This 888 fire siren does not have a test procedure, like most stations in NSW they do not test their sirens or do not use them. Most are out of use like this one are kept up on this station for historical display. Most Australian fire stations keep their siren up (if out of use) as historical display. 5 port brushed motor, and other Model 2 specs. Photos taken on February 13th 2022.
Anyways enjoy this lengthy post!