I’ve been fascinated by hidden infrastructure for as long as I can remember. One of the most prominent pieces hereabouts is the county’s network of outdoor warning sirens. I’ve written about some of our oldest sirens here and here, but when a rare Friday off occurred just days after Christmas, I decided to document one of our newer, more common ones. Unfortunately…crickets.
The electromechanical siren was invented around the turn of the twentieth century. Local governments bought tons of them during the Cold War. Over time, the sirens were often repurposed for use during emergencies like tornados, especially after the 1974 Super Outbreak destroyed the White County Courthouse in Monticello.
Many Delaware County communities featured old Darley and Federal Signal fire sirens. Once the Cold War came about, officials grabbed five Federal Signal Thunderbolt models to spread around Muncie. Over time, the county’s collection grew to more than thirty! Today, nearly two-thirds of our outdoor warning sirens are modern Federal Signal 2001-SRN variants, including most of those closest to me.
Federal Signal introduced the Model 2001-SRN in 1988 as a lower-maintenance, DC-capable replacement for the company’s aging Thunderbolt series. They’re good for 125-130 dB at 100 feet, and our emergency management team tests them every Friday at 11:00. Their characteristic rasp is ubiquitous!
I don’t often have a Friday off. When I remembered the date and looked at my phone, I scrambled to the closest siren with a good view. I got to the 2001-SRNB near Muncie’s Habitat for Humanity ReStore with a minute to spare. I heard Ball State’s sirens -electronic Whelen WPS-4004s- start on “wail” mode a moment later. Soon, the raspy calls of three or four other 2001-SRNs in the area chimed in. Finally, Muncie’s nearest Thunderbolt 1000 joined the party with its scary, throaty, call. Unfortunately, the siren I sought to document didn’t make a sound. It didn’t even rotate.
I got on the county’s outdoor warning siren webpage after I got home. There, I learned the one I’d visited was considered non-operational. That was news to me! Apparently, it’d been four years since I last saw it spin. I was a little alarmed by the lack of emergency coverage in the thick of Muncie’s busiest commercial strip, but then I remembered all the other sirens I could hear.
The Whelens at Mitchell Early Childhood Center and Scheumman Stadium, the Thunderbolt at the Suzanne Gresham Center, and at least two other SRN-2001s probably keep the area safe. I don’t know how long it’s been down, but there’s probably a reason why the 2001B I visited hasn’t been repaired. The ubiquity of smartphones and weather apps probably have something to do with it; I’ve noticed the local emergency management group downplay the importance of its outdoor sirens for years now.
Still, outdoor warning sirens are important and interesting- at least to me. After I closed out of the county’s siren site, I checked my archive for evidence of the SRNB in action. Unfortunately, the only video I could find was one I put on Facebook and deleted from my phone. If you’re interested in hearing and seeing Muncie’s silent siren before it croaked, here’s a very tiny, very crappy video I took. A word of advice before you play it, though: it’s loud, and it starts right at the beginning of the clip! Keep your device volume down!
