Sarnia, Ontario Siren Test Videos?

[4J25]

Glad some more research is being done into this system. Something that surprises me is that these were the two driver per horn units, which I originally thought only lasted until they came out with the upgraded rotator. I suppose the switch from two per horn to four per horn was done around the release of the AL-4000R: It wouldn't make sense to market two different sirens at the same time that both push 1600 watts.

[Alertronic6000]

From the research we gathered from our public library, apparently Sarnia failed a nation wide fire drill (cold war era) in the fall of 1985. Our original system was the B&N Mobil Directo and I only remember seeing two of those in my life time. One is the black and white picture seen earlier in this thread (located in the north end of Sarnia on the corner of Indian Road and Cathcart). The other located at the now defunct St. Peters Elementary School. Both were in operation but were removed by the end of 1995. Based on my memory, and the news paper archives do confirm this. the ACA system was installed sometime in the spring of 1986, though I can't find any info to confirm the exact date, week or even month. After the fire drill failure the previous October, the city consulted with Federal Signal about a new system but I can't find any further information. I am not sure when or if ACA was ever consulted, and I have been told by various people that the Allertronics were donated to the city via the US government.

I do remember watching the city installing the pole in the ground at nearby (Newton) park, and I do remember the first time I heard them, which was two separate occasions. I also remember standing near one when the city did a single "whoop" test during one of my softball games, my ears ringing after. I did get to witness a full 3 minute test in 1994 of the Lyons Park Allertronic.

Unlike our system today (ATIHPSS32), which is properly maintained and tested every Monday at 12:30 pm in sync with the sirens from our petro-chemical industry south of the city (which is the main reason we have a siren system in the first place), the ACA Allertronics were either 1) not designed to withstand cold, damp Canadian winters, or 2) the city didn't care to put any money into them. The number 1 seems to be the general consensus as the Allertronics would frequently malfunction, sounding randomly to not sounding at all, sometimes never shutting off which was always fun and usually required someone showing up to manually deactivate the siren. It seemed they were only worked on if they were broke which became more frequent in the mid 90's. I could be wrong but from my memory 1991 was the year were they saw the most activity and I use to have (now lost forever) a few cassette recordings of 'alert' tests, one of those ran for almost a half hour as the city had to manually turn the power off.

Most of the testing for the Allertronics were done at odd hours and odd days, usually not 12:30 noon on Monday) in the spring, summer, and early fall months. I don't ever remember any testing in the winter (though I could be wrong). I have only heard the "Attack" test twice, which was the first and second time I heard them. All other tests were conducted in "Alert" mode, though it should be mentions the city LOVED to use a single "whoop"/ "growl" test whenever they felt like it, in the case of the 'whoop' test heard in the one video which was on a Saturday afternoon in late June 1992, my uncle was recording a family reunion when they happened to 'whoop' test that day. The echo was great and standing in the middle of the city during a 'whoop" test was like siren surround.

I still have the newspaper article for our local Observer (dated April 7th 1998) with the front page headline "EMERGENCY SIRENS SILENCED FOREVER". The article states they were disconnected in the summer of 1997 due to frequent malfunctions, and were "liken to aging dinosaurs", said one of our city councilmen. A few days later I took those pictures on a Kodak disposable camera (I still both the pictures and the negatives), thinking they would be removed in the coming months. Well with the exception of 4 sirens (which were replaced in 2002), the remaining 8 stood there until late 2012. The city had been in talks about removing them that year so I took to the streets in and early morning in August and took more pictures (seen in that original video) around this time my cousin obtained the audio of a 1995 test (from the Siren in Marcin Park which is where he used to live). Apparently that test was also the last time the Mobile Directo's at Indian Road was tested before it was dismantled. After the removal, we were going to purchase one of the remaining Sirens from the construction company that removed them in late December 2012 but neither my cousin or I had the money or the space or the vehicle to pick one up, my cousin was in contact with the gentleman who has a video of one rotating (no sound) on youtube. From another thread that gentleman posted it would seem he was having electrical issues and was unable to get it up an running, and has recently sold it.

None of the videos on youtube seem to have the exact tone of Sarnia's old Allertronics. The were dual toned, they did NOT have a quiet wind up, they were hi-pitched, and they had a long wind down. According to WIKI these were in production from the early 80's to 1992 (as the ACA Allertronic 6000). When ACA became ASC, the model was switched to the RE-1600, not sure if the existing tone generator changed as well as replacement parts. The Rock Springs WI test video on youtube is probably the closest to what I remember the tone being, but a little more wonky and unstable. Ironically, there are a few videos of Whelen 3016 and EOWS 612 that share a similar timbre as the old Allertronics, but it's been over 20 years since I have heard them so it's hard to make an comparison. Hopefully whoever bought this siren is able to get it up and running to make a video.

[MobilDirecto98]

Where can I find said "audio recording" of the Marcin Park B&N Mobil Directo?