Michigan Tornado Siren Damage

[500AT]

Yesterday. a line of Severe Thunderstorms spawned four tornadoes across Southeast Lower Michigan. The strongest of these storms tore a 42 km path across three counties and took direct aim on the city of Fenton, Michigan. The storm was just over 400 meters wide when it struck the city, and has been rated by the National Weather Service as an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

All total there were four known tornadoes. The one to my north was an EF-0, but was never warned for as it moved into the next county. This is the first confirmed tornado in Washtenaw County since 1994.

In this photo taken by Art Parnell in downtown Fenton, you can see the Federal STL-10 and Sterling M-10 really took it on the chin. The angle irons are are bent from the wind, and it appears that the mount that the Sterling was on is missing. I am wondering if the tornado didn't pickup the M-10, remove the tower it was on, and then set the siren back down on the clock tower roof?

http://www.pbase.com/dataman/fenton_tornado

[FedTB]

You must've gotten your information from a Canadian news source, eh?

[500AT]

You must've gotten your information from a Canadian news source, eh?

Canadian eh?

[SirenMadness]

I was in the middle of a severe thunderstorm that day; I think that I got a big piece of that unless I was under another storm system altogether.

Neat picture, too!

[Jim Z]

Nope, same system. It barreled through SE michigan, then straight across Lake St. Clair/Detroit River into Ontario.

[MIKEY]

I tried to look for thep icture but could not find it. could you repost again for me...thanks.

[Robert Gift]

Thanks for posting that photo, 500.
Glad neither siren appears damaged.
Could be fun trying to fix without a crane securing them or lowering them to the ground.
That will be expensive.
Why two sirens?
Was the Sterling replaced by the STL-10 but too much work to remove the Sterling?

Was the Sterling on a pedestal to begin with?

[500AT]

Why two sirens?
Was the Sterling replaced by the STL-10 but too much work to remove the Sterling? Was the Sterling on a pedestal to begin with?

I seem to remember the Sterling sitting on a small tower in the early 1970s. Apparently, the STL-10 was purchased as a replacement, and the Sterling was used as a backup. My next door neighbor was born and raised in Fenton, and she told me that in the 1970s and through the 1980s, the fire dept. would run both sirens on fire calls and tornadoes.

I know one of the firefighters in Fenton, I should ask him about the fate of these sirens. If they decide to replace them with modern units, maybe they can go to a siren collector.