Wrightsville Steam Fire Engine & Hose Co. No. 1 - 1.30.05 - So What's Up With Those Sirens, Anyway?

Fire sirens play a very important role making sure that someone responds when there is an emergency. You may notice that they seem to ring forever, around 3am on nights when you really need your sleep.

Most times they will ring 4 times each activation. If we are slow getting out of bed, four minutes after the first activation they will ring with the second activation. We try very hard to get up, get dressed, get to the station, get dressed again in our fire gear and get out the door. This is alot to do in four minutes, but we are usually quick to get on the road. One difficulty we face is the increasing communications problem with York County Control. Due to an out-dated weak transmitting network there are times that YCC cannot copy our transmissions. If they don't hear us on the radio after four minutes, they will initiate a second activation of the siren.

Other times you will hear the siren is the first Saturday of the month at 12 noon. This is the civil defense test of the siren. It will ring steady for about 30 seconds, quit and ring three more times. Another activation has the siren ring only one time - it goes up and down. This is for either the Fire Police or Fire Department to help with a medical emergency.

I know that many residents question the need and value of the fire sirens. They are at best loud and dramatic, but you should know that every time they are activated someone needs help. Although most firemen have pagers, they are not 100% reliable and the siren serves as a dependable back-up.