I was on my way home from the Five Points schoolhouse when I discovered this sad little Model 7 perched precariously on a pole behind Hartford City’s fire station. Poor little siren! It looks like it’s been abandoned.
Like many areas across Indiana and the greater midwest, Blackford County utilizes a network of outdoor warning sirens to alert its citizens to imminent danger. A trio of ASC T-128 sirens cover the north, east, and west parts of Hartford City, while two Sentry 3V8s and another Model 7 cover the city of Montpelier. Unfortunately, the rest of the rural county is on its own1.
I’ve seen all of Blackford County’s sirens in person over the years, but I’ve never stopped for photos. That is, until I came across the old Model 7 leaning behind the firehouse. It’s probably a relic of the first half of the twentieth century, when fire departments relied on sirens as a critical part of their emergency response system. Before the age of pagers and cell phones, loud, wailing alarms were the best call to action for firefighters across small towns and cities alike! Federal Signal’s Models 5 and 7 sirens were purpose-built for the task.
Federal Signal Corporation’s story began in 1901 when it was still named Federal Electric. The company specialized in manufacturing incandescent signs until 1915, when it pivoted to a new focus- the electromechanical siren. Federal Signal introduced its Fedelcode series of dampened sirens in 1929, then replaced them with the Model 5 series in 19482. Over time, a powerful variant of the Model 5 -the C3 1/2- became known as the Model 7 thanks to its 7.5 horsepower motor.
Model 7 sirens were the largest, loudest, and most successful of the Model 5 variants3. They worked by sucking up air through an intake and forcing it through a spinning rotor, which opened and closed a series of integrated holes called ports. Air projected through the ports and was forced down and out under a conical hood. That’s what made the noise! An omnidirectional siren4, the Model 7 was capable of reaching 107 decibels from a distance of a hundred feet. Unfortunately, I gather that it was discontinued in the eighties to make way for more modern designs5.
I can’t help but wonder how long it’s been since Hartford City’s poor old Model 7 siren went full blast. Has it been a decade? Two? Who knows how long it’s sat in silence, overshadowed by the modern T-128s that now protect the community. The newer noisemakers are top-of-the-line and they’ve got the town covered when it comes to emergency alerts, but there’s something about that old Model 7- perched on its leaning pole, rusting away, that makes me wish it could be fired up to have one final hurrah.
Sources Cited
1 Harman, S. (n.d.) Indiana Siren Map. Google Maps. Web. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
2 Federal Signal Model 5 (n.d.) Civil Defense Sirens Fandom. Web. Retriebed October 20, 2024.
3 (See footnote 2).
4 Model 7 (n.d.). Tornado Siren and AirRaid Siren Database. Web. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
5 Model 5 (n.d.) The Air Raid Sirens Wiki. Web. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
I love that you were just driving down the road and noticed a random siren. So many people don’t see the big things around them and they certainly don’t notice the small stuff. Cool!
Thanks! It’s sort of the story of my life!
Haha. Mine too. Not with sirens but with other random stuff!
I wonder how the new models compare in decibel levels. My unscientific belief is that the old electromechanical sirens put out a sound that was either louder or carried better.
Ball State has four or five electronic Whelan sirens that are essentially big speakers. They carry pretty well with four 400W speakers. Dont know how they actually compare, though.