The Siren Board

So. As you all know I, at the time of this, am doing over the road trucking. I've seen multiple sirens (2001 DC, 2001 SRNB, 2001 SRN, WHELEN Omni, WHELEN vortex, thunderbolt 1003, T128, Rm130, and my first sd-10!) and I must say it's been super interesting! Any of you have any interesting siren or tornado stories while driving? I'll tell one but it wasn't with trucks, I was just a kid and still had a fear of tornados: so we are driving through... I think it was Montana? And i was sleeping and was awoken by the car shaking. I thought we were in a car wash but then I saw the lightning and thought it was just a bad storm and went back to sleep. At the time my mom sad it was just a cloud burst. (Not a microburst, a cloud burst you know? When it suddenly starts raining really hard?) well when I got older I found out it was a little darker than that. My mom told me we pulled into the gas station for some well... gas. And the man inside and her both heard a tornado had been spotted in the area. So instead of us getting into the basement they had... (why? Idk...) she pulls the car up right next to the building and waits. Well soon it hails... then the lights on their poles start violently shaking... and it gradually gets louder and louder and louder. (This point I woke saw the lightning and went back to sleep... thankfully I did, you know that fear I had...) so another minute goes by and at another flash of lightning plus the lights at the gas station that were still on, there is a swirling debris cloud right across the small 2 lane road from the gas station. Thankfully not moving towards us but I tell you, it was a close call. And ironically sitting here in Colorado the wind started blowing hard and some ominous clouds moved in...

I remember when I was 13 years old, my family drove up to Michigan on Friday, July 4, 2008, and drove through Indianapolis. When passing through, it was raining, and the time was probably close to 11:05am, we could hear what sounded like a siren, and then we passed a 2001-130, which was rotating, but hard to tell for sure up close when passing by it pretty fast. I was thinking maybe it was going off for a flood warning. Sometime later, I realized that it was a test. If I'm not mistaken, Marion County used to test every Friday at 11:00am, but it is now only the 1st Friday. This particular siren we passed was next to a church along I-74.

i have went past a 3016 and a sentrey wal going camping ironicley on my way back home i past a 2001-130 with out knowing

I Found That 2001-130 It's At 39°41'35.81"N 86°16'10.36"W I'm Pretty Sure This Is It Because I Hunted Most Of I-74.

Well, this wasn't a siren going off, and it wasn't me driving either, but.. while we were coming back from a thanksgiving trip from Macon, GA, a couple days ago, I saw a Whelen 4004 next to what I guess was an inactive Federal Signal RSH-10 in Montgomery, Alabama. While in Baton Rouge, I actually saw a Whelen 4008, and I was pretty excited since I've never seen one in person.

apologies for a bump, but i've got a story here. I drove to Cleveland a few summers back, and decided to drive down a rural road to reach the ohio turnpike, which would lead me to Indiana, where I would drive back into Michigan. While driving in Ohio, I saw a Neuclear Power Plant in the distance, Then, as I was driving, I saw a 2001-130(?) near a grain silo. Then another one near a road. After seeing 3 or 4 more 2001s, I stopped to get gas. At the town hall in that city, (I don't remember the town where I was) There was a Whelen WPS-2910. Then, farther along the Ohio Turnpike, I saw a 2001-DC. I don't remember where I was, but there were some cool sirens!

Another Story: Around 2010, I drove to Lapeer/Imlay City, and a Tornado Warning was issued right as I was preparing to leave. The TV was on, so I hear EAS. Was my 1st time hearing it, and it scared the ---- out of me. Trying to drive with the wind & rain was hard, but I was too stupid to pull off or head back to the relative's house. As I drove through Imlay City, I could hear the STH-10 sounding. Then, as I drove through Lapeer, a 2001 was sounding as well. A tornado had been sighted in Mt. Morris. I was still driving (stupid, ikr), with the wipers on at high speed, and the 4-way flashers on. I was about to Flint when the rain let up a bit and the wind died down. I'll never forget that one!

One More: I was in Lapeer in April, 2017, and it was test day. The 2001 I mentioned above ^^^^^^^ was sounding for the test. Holy Crap, that was loud!

Seen many fire sirens on my drives through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Sometimes I've even been stopped at the right time and heard them going off for fire calls! Like the now gone STH-10 in Millville, NJ and the Sterling M in Breezewood, PA.

carexpertandy wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 07, 2017 8:15 pm

I remember when I was 13 years old, my family drove up to Michigan on Friday, July 4, 2008, and drove through Indianapolis. When passing through, it was raining, and the time was probably close to 11:05am, we could hear what sounded like a siren, and then we passed a 2001-130, which was rotating, but hard to tell for sure up close when passing by it pretty fast. I was thinking maybe it was going off for a flood warning. Sometime later, I realized that it was a test. If I'm not mistaken, Marion County used to test every Friday at 11:00am, but it is now only the 1st Friday. This particular siren we passed was next to a church along I-74.

You are correct; Marion County did used to test every Friday at 11, however the test time got changed to just the first Friday (and the policy changed from having the sirens sounded both for severe thunderstorms with tornado watches on them and tornado warnings to having them sounded for just tornado warnings) around July of 2011 due to residents becoming "desensitized" to the sirens. But Indy has never used sirens for floods afaik, so your 7-year-old self was, as you mentioned, incorrect

I'm not a trucker, but I have a few siren experiences while driving. Nothing really to write home about though; I've driven past a few while they're sounding, and I may or may not have almost crashed the car after spotting a new siren I've never seen before...

On March 26, 2018, I commanded the Great 2018 Grand Rapids Siren Hunt! Basically, I drove from Kingsley to Grand Rapids, and kept my eyes out for sirens, and then photographed them. I found 5 that were new to me, and didn't crash the car when I was staring out the window at them! This relates to this topic because I was driving around trying to find these.

Here are the locations of sirens I found, I put them into a map. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HuwKL ... sp=sharing