St. Louis County, Missouri Siren Fails

[vortexofmisery]

I found a nice parking spot just about 100 feet away from a beastly older looking yellow Whelen 3016 (siren D-11). Test time is 11AM and in the distance I heard a couple sirens go off, but nothing out of this siren (which was pointed right at me.) It made a couple of weird "boop" noises, like it was trying to do something. Here is a recording of what it did.



http://media.putfile.com/Siren-D-11

I'm wondering if this was something intentional, or it was the siren failing. All other sirens I heard in the distance were on a solid 3 minutes.

[kswx29]

That's a real odd sound. I'm not sure whats going on with it but you should report it to who ever is in charge of the sirens there.

[vortexofmisery]

I reported that the siren was possibly malfunctioning by e-mailing them, and I've already got a response.

Mr xxxxxx,

Thank you very much for the report, this information is being forwarded to our Siren Technicians so they can check on this problem.

Captain Robert C. Young
Office of Emergency Management
St. Louis County Police
14847 Ladue Bluffs Crossing Drive
Chesterfield, Missouri 63017-2237
Phone: 314-628-5400
Fax: 314-628-5508
Pager: 314-430-3007

[Robert Gift]

Good of you to report it.

The 3016 I staged to record for Aurora, Colorado's semi annual test also failed.
Made a slight "dwoop" and turned a few degrees.

tex, what is that appertenance in your siren photo?
To equalize wind torque?

[FedTB]

Vortexofmisery, where exactly is this siren located in St. Louis County? I used to live there, but now live in St. Charles County. I was able to see 2 different GRAY Whelen 3016's activate out in O'Fallon, where I live. Plus the O'Fallon sirens have much lower tones than the St. Louis County Whelen 3016's, more like Whelen 2800's/2900's.

[uncommonsense]

And maybe it is just me, but I feel like those old 3016s are failing quite rapidly. I've kept somewhat of an informal benchmark to myself since STL County started installing 2900s (a recent thing. It used to be unheard of to find an omni in STL County, aside from the super rare 2T22, so its hard for me NOT to notice). I've seen at least 4 appear in the last several months, not to mention all the new(ish) 4000s, though, to their credit, most of the 4000's replaced Thunderbolts (with a few replacing 3016s). And maybe its just me. Can't say with any decent statistics. But, I do feel as though the 3016s are failing rapidly.

Speaking of 2900s, I mistakenly got blasted with one today. I can't even begin to describe how eerie Whelen's new low tone is. It was bright and sunny and I had the chills. That is not a sound I would want to hear on doomsday.

[mgear]

Haha it sounds like the Wal-Mart checkout but i believe it is driver trouble or a short in the data or something.

[thunderbeam63]

Someone was playing pong at the firestation.

BAZINNNG!!!

[SirenMadness]

Great recording!

[vortexofmisery]

UPDATE:

I got a another e-mail today from the St. Louis County Emergency Management Office. The technicians forwarded me a message they sent to the Captain:

Capt, this siren is down, we should have the parts in by the end of next week,
Thanks Mr xxxxxx (me) for the report.

I wonder if they mean the siren is down for good and they are waiting a new siren, or just parts for the old unit. I'll have to drive by and check it out sometime.