City of Madison, WI Siren Decommission Schedule

[Josh_S]

I was doing some digging and randomly came across a PDF file from the City of Madison giving the DCEM's siren decommission schedule for sirens in the city. They are averaging three a year, and are adding a mix of 2001-130's and T-128's (a now re-occuring theme seen by the DCEM) to fill the gaps. The following list gives the locations of the sirens being removed by year.
2014
2T22 @ Harrison St.
Model 7 @ Brooks St./Fish Hatchery
500AT @ Hammersly Rd./Frisch Rd.
2015
Thunderbolt 1000 @ East High School
Model 7T @ Crestview Dr./Dixie Ln.
Banschee @ Thurber Park
2016
Allertor @ Email St.
Siratone 612 @ Englehart Dr./ Artesian Ln.
Siratone 1212 @ Moorland Rd.
2017
Siratone 612 @ Old Middleton Rd.
Allertor @ Hubbard St.
SD-10 @ Marsha Dr.
I just thought that this was a rather interesting find and wanted to share this list.

[Thunderboltlover]

Thanks for sharing! It's pretty neat that they have it all planned out, even though a "better" idea would be to refurbish all of them and reinstall them.

Did they set the decommission schedule based on the sirens' installation date, replacing the oldest ones first, or some other scheme?

[ACAPenetrator50]

The Model 7 at Fish Hatchery/Brooks is actually a Model 2, which wasn't on the siren list as far as I know, because I didn't know it was there.

--It's strange how Dane is installing ASC T-128s and 2001-130s, which will run on an ATI system?

[lilsirenguy]

a "better" idea would be to refurbish all of them and reinstall them.

Yeah. Should go with refurbing all the sirens.

[FSThunderboltfan1000]

I wonder if they will scrap them or put them on the Wisconsin surplus auction website.

[BadgerSiren]

Wow, thank you for sharing Josh! Very interesting. Do you have a link to the PDF?

I have lived in the area of each of the three sirens coming down in 2014. I grew up and lived my first 18 years a block or so away from the 500AT. Madison also had 3 500ATs—all 240V and 9/12 port. The one on Hammersley and then two on the eastside, which were removed in 2012 and replaced by one T-128. I lived in the area of the other two sirens slated for 2014 removal while in college (Harrison 2T22 and Fish Hatch/Brooks Model 2T), and heard them a few times.

Some other notes on these sirens:

-The East High Thunderbolt and the Marsha Dr. SD-10 are two of the oldest remaining units in the system.
-The Banshee on Thurber Dr. was repaired in the last two years. In September 2011 it did not sound when I went to record it. One other Banshee remains in Maple Grove. There used to be 4 in the area.
-That "Model 7" on Fish Hatchery Rd. at Brooks was actually a Model 2T. It's been gone for some time. I last heard it for the statewide tornado drill in 2012. It was taken down sometime in the last year, but the pole still remains. There used to be another 2T in the adjacent neighborhood, at Franklin Elementary, replaced a few years ago by a 2001-130 several blocks away.
-The Emil St. Allertor is a rare 8/12 model and it sounds awesome. I've heard it for tests and one warning. I'll have to record it before it comes down. I wonder if this means that Cambridge's Allertor, also an 8/12 model installed the same year, will be removed too. (The Hubbard St. Allertor is a 9/12 model, as is Belleville's. There are 6 remaining Allertors in the county, used to be 10 until the early 2000s)

I would expect some of these to be replaced by T-121s, which have started to pop up around the county, replacing omnidirectional sirens. Others will probably be replaced by T-128s in different locations to fill in gaps. There hasn't been a 2001 installed in Madison in at least 2 years, all new units have been T-128s since then.

Bittersweet to see all these CD-era sirens, which I grew up seeing, be replaced. But there will still be quite a few CD-era units left in Madison (Thunderbolts, XT22s, the HOR) even after all these are removed.

[BadgerSiren]

Did they set the decommission schedule based on the sirens' installation date, replacing the oldest ones first, or some other scheme?

Some of these sirens date to 1960 or before, but several of them were installed in the '80s, like all the EOWS models.

It's not surprising to see these electronic sirens coming down. Dane County replaced its first 612 in the early 2000s, and since then at least 2 more have been replaced, all with 2001s. The 1212s are now just starting to come down, with Cross Plains' 1212 replaced by an ASC T-121.

[Josh_S]

And by the looks of it that HOR will remain for quite sometime being as the city mapped it as a completed siren. Here is the link to the PDF: http://www.cityofmadison.com/engineerin ... p_2011.pdf

[TboltTX1]

Is the Banshee single or dual toned?

[BadgerSiren]

Fascinating map, how did you come across this?

Interesting to see how their plan deviated over the past few years after what was originally planned. A lot of what was listed on this map has not come about as was laid out in 2011.

It looks like the Hubbard St. Allertor is actually not part of this plan, as it is located in and owned by the City of Middleton. It is quite an old siren, though. The sirens scheduled to be removed in 2017 are the 1212 on Old Middleton, the very old SD-10s on Marsha and University/Spring Harbor, and the Thunderbolt 1000 on Gammon.

Wonder what they plan to do with all the extra ATI controls, which were installed on every siren including the ones slated to be removed.