The Siren Board

I would like to introduce myself to the members of The Siren Board.

My name is Dennis, and I live in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

I have known of this website for quite a while now, and have even prevailed upon Adam to answer a couple of questions I had, for which I was grateful. I had only recently "discovered" this discussion board, and of course, signed up immediately!

I have had more than a casual interest in outdoor sirens for many years. I remember the monthly tests being performed while growing up. I had begun tracking ones around my area as I would stumble across them, and had put together what I had thought was a pretty complete list. WRONG! There were many more around than I had ever imagined, but I would not know that until recently.

A couple of months ago, a former high school classmate contacted me and said he and his wife were going to be in the L.A. area and wanted to stop in for a visit. During the visit, I inquired what had they been doing while in town? To my surprise, they said that they were driving around the Valley taking pictures of the old air raid sirens! It was at that moment that I had learned of the existence of an old list of siren locations, kept by some official at the city, and was available on-line at http://home.socal.rr.com/rickjs/sirens/. I have not been able to determine who operates this site, but I am grateful for his efforts to obtain and distribute this "Official List"

Now armed with the locations of all the air raid sirens within the city, I set out to visit each one, and document the type, exact location, condition, etc. This has turned out to be a time consuming but extremely fun project! I have now completed my first pass of all 218 locations as indicated on the list. The results of my findings, along with a map and photos of most of them is available to all at: http://wirechief.com/sirens/. Of course, any and all feedback, updates, corrections, etc. will be appreciated!

Thank you for your time, and thanks to Adam for providing this valuable resource.

Dennis H.

Welcome, Dennis, to our world!

I see that you have developed quite a big interest.
Glad to hear that!

Yah, mental illness comes in many forms.

Welcome Dennis.

Wonderful website.
How do you wind up with .3 sirens!

Thanks for all of your efforts.

Your site is absolutely fascinating. There is no reason at all why a city the size of Los Angeles and surrounding county areas should not have a public warning system, and it is amazing that so much of it is still intact and presumably usable. Up in my neck of the woods, both Portland and Seattle dismantled their siren systems long ago and not a single siren remains in either city, save for one Chrysler siren turned into a memorial in Seattle. Apparently LA county uses four kinds of sirens: the FS (Federal Signal) Model 5 (birdhouse -- might also be Model 5T dual toned), the FS SD-10 (wire spool), the FS Model 500AT (rotating), and an unknown (flattened birdhouse) which could be from Hedberg or Sireno. Thanks for all your work in photographing and cataloging the sirens, and welcome to this site!

Wow, you are doing the same thing I am doing....only in a different city. And Im not sure if Im going to photograph them all. Myself and a friend of mine on this board, (12kvlive) have been hunting the sirens in Chicago, both old and new. So far between both of us we have found 57 2001's and 12 modulators in the new system, and 3 thunderbolts and one stl-10 in the old system. This is working off of NO list at all. The city will not give us a list and in fact, everyone we have talked to didnt really know anything about the system. We inquired on why they dont use voice on the modulators for tests and they said they dont need to and wont. During the tornado warning last month, they used all 112 sirens in attack mode, but did not use voice on any modulator. So they arent using them the way they should, and a lot of them are in areas where other media isnt really available, like at the big parks and beaches. Plus its a waste of money, why did they spend 30k a unit for the mods when they could have gotten more 2001' at half that. I mean its good that they have them, but they do absolutely no good if they dont USE them.

Welcome.

I used to have a list of San Jose's sirens, like 57 of them. But I lost the list, they stopped testing sirens here in 1989, and pulled some of them out.

Now, as far as your 4 siren types:

1. Federal 500, most often the dual tone 500T version. About 121 db @ 100 feet.

2. Federal Model 5. About 108 db @100 feet.

3. Federal SD-10. About 112 db @ 100 feet.

4. Unknown, but I don't think it's a Hedberg.

LA County also has some sirens, including Thunderbolts & ACA Allertors.

Also, John M. Kord & others rescued a 500T:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmkord/federal_500t.htm
http://kcnovak.home.comcast.net/

AMAZING!! GREAT WORK! the SD10 is perhaps the best federal siren ever made! very glad to see these still standing in Los Angeles... !

Welcome Dennis! I too am in the Valley, and I have been doing the same as you by verifying which ones are still here. What part of the Valley? I'm Chatsworth part time & also in the Newhall Pass.

With regret, I discovered that the Chrysler at the FS in Newhall is long gone. And about that vacant pole at 35th & Gaffey at the harbor in your photos; LA siren #86... I know where that missing SD-10 siren is 8) (NO, I don't have it, LOL)

Here's my Valley list, but there are 3 or 4 more not yet included. These have been verified within the past 6 months personally...


VALLEY:

Corbin Ave, s/Devonshire *New style pole
Corbin Ave, NE corner Vanowen
Reseda Blvd, n/Lassen
Deering Ave, s/Sherman Way
Chandler Blvd, on Firehouse roof e/Tujunga
Top of Cahuenga Pass at Universal Studios dwy
Filbert St at Juvenile Hall dwy
Winnetka Ave, s/Parthenia
Lubao Ave, s/101
Fallbrook, s/Victory
Brand Blvd at Stranwood *Pole in Fire Sta Yard
Burbank Blvd at Bellaire Av *Pole
Victory Blvd E/Tujunga *Pole in 99c store lot **Painted hot pink
Arminta St, SW corner at Reseda Bl *Pole
Winnetka Ave, NW corner at Strathern *New style pole





CULVER CITY:

Braddock Dr, at Sawtelle (ACA Allertor)


BRENTWOOD:

Barrington Ave s/Sunset at SW corner gas station
Mandeville Cyn at Sunset (edge of school football field)

I would like to thank everyone who replied to my original post for their compliments and words of encouragement. I'd also like to thank Hacksaw for identifying the photos on my web page and supplying the make and model information, and to kx250rider for the photo contributions.

I'm grateful to all the members on this board who so freely share information with others.

To make a long story short, I'm glad to have found this message board!

Dennis
www.wirechief.com/sirens/

By the way, by the 99c store, a..umm...SD-10 painted hot pink?! Does anyone have a picture? 8)