Need help on a writing project

[Aceorton]

Hey, everyone. I could use your help. I'm currently working on a novel in which Federal Thunderbolts play a fairly significant role. Without giving away my plot, I can tell you the story is set in a town of about 20,000 people, present day, and some of the key elements are going to depend on what I can learn about small-town siren systems (especially Thunderbolts) and who manages them.

This is where I need your expertise. I have plenty of questions.

I recently e-mailed the EMA in Boone County, Ill., where I grew up, attempting to get some info on the siren system in Belvidere and other towns, but so far no one has responded. Assuming I don't hear from an EMA rep (and I doubt I will until I start aggressively making phone calls), I'm hoping you guys can fill me in on some things:

- In a typical Midwest community, would sirens be controlled/tested/activated by the county, or by the town itself, separate from the county? Does an EMA usually oversee the system? What's the role of the county sheriff's department? The city fire department? The local governing body, i.e. mayor or city council? A storm spotter?

- If there's a need to activate sirens in a town (say, for a tornado warning), who are all the people who would have the authority to sound them? What's the pecking order? Who can make that decision? Who needs to be called to give the official OK?

- How would activation occur, typically? Let's say a town has three Thunderbolt sirens and the system has been around for a long, long time -- 40 years or more. Let's also say there are some newer sirens in the mix. Would all of the sirens be radio-controlled from one central location in town (or somewhere in the county), with one "button" pushed that turns them all on? Or would each individual siren or type of siren have to be triggered separately? What's the range of activation? What would the activating equipment look like? Would it be portable? If so, who would carry it? Is it common for a Thunderbolt to be activated manually at the control box for a weather emergency?

- Are storm spotters usually in the local law enforcement, or are they also private citizens? How are they selected? To whom to they report?

- I've read that Thunderbolt control boxes are often caged or padlocked to keep people out. Who would have the key to get in?

- Do Thunderbolts ever go off accidentally? If so, how/why would that happen?

- In the Midwest, who maintains or repairs these old Thunderbolts to make sure they're in proper shape? An outside agency hired by the local authority? How often might that maintenance occur? Would someone from the local authority be on hand to oversee the maintenance?

- What's the most typical maintenance issue with a Thunderbolt that makes it stop working properly?

- What type of damage might a Thunderbolt sustain if it were struck by lightning?

- For Thunderbolts that are mounted on top of buildings, what is the noise like for people inside, just underneath? (There's a Thunderbolt on top of a three-story Catholic school in Belvidere, and I always imagined the kids on the top floor going deaf from the noise directly above them during the monthly tests.)

Thanks for bearing with me through this long post -- and thanks in advance if you can help me get a feel for any of the things I've listed above. I'm sure I'll have plenty of follow-up questions, also.

Can't wait to hear from you and get your insight. The more detailed, the better! I want to hear any specific descriptions and examples you can give me. (If this thread seems like it's getting too bulky, you can PM me.)

Thanks -- Aceorton

[Justin]

- In a typical Midwest community, would sirens be controlled/tested/activated by the county, or by the town itself, separate from the county? Does an EMA usually oversee the system? What's the role of the county sheriff's department? The city fire department? The local governing body, i.e. mayor or city council? A storm spotter?

Usually, sirens are controlled and tested by the local Emergency Management authority, especially with a municipality of that size. Smaller areas can designate one person to oversee the system.

Storm spotters are typically not given the authority, but do have a weighted opinion when it comes to activating them.

Smaller areas (less 5,000) would usually just give the job to the local fireies.

- If there's a need to activate sirens in a town (say, for a tornado warning), who are all the people who would have the authority to sound them? What's the pecking order? Who can make that decision? Who needs to be called to give the official OK?

Depends on who controls the system; again with an area with such a population density: the EMA controls them.

Procedures dictate who has the golden rights to fire the system up, but anyone with the authority can do so (the EM officer him/herself or staff given such authority).
Typically, if quite a few reports of a tornado surface (which is further backed up by weather data); the system can be set off without authorisation.

- How would activation occur, typically? Let's say a town has three Thunderbolt sirens and the system has been around for a long, long time -- 40 years or more. Let's also say there are some newer sirens in the mix. Would all of the sirens be radio-controlled from one central location in town (or somewhere in the county), with one "button" pushed that turns them all on? Or would each individual siren or type of siren have to be triggered separately? What's the range of activation? What would the activating equipment look like? Would it be portable? If so, who would carry it? Is it common for a Thunderbolt to be activated manually at the control box for a weather emergency?

Typically, if the system has been "upgraded" with newer controllers, they can either consist of radio communications (one way: activation only; two way: activation and reporting of status) or phone line activation which is typically two way (depending on what controller was used).
Newer systems should include these newer controllers by default (purchased default).

Older Thunderbolts were activated primarily by phone line and I think some models were outfitted with specialised UHF/VHF radios (which is where tone activation comes into play) to listen for the tone and fire up.

- Are storm spotters usually in the local law enforcement, or are they also private citizens? How are they selected? To whom to they report?

Spotters are typically civilians (with a weekends training under their belts), but law enforcement and emergency management (including fire and ambulance) can radio in such events, but may not have an eye as sharp as a spotter (spotters are trained to look for signs of a tornado (like mammatus and cloud rotation), rather than a funnel bearing down).

Spotters can volunteer to become spotters and attend seminars to become "official" which they are then employed my Emergency Management. Spotters usually report to Emergency Management or other authority (like Police)

- I've read that Thunderbolt control boxes are often caged or padlocked to keep people out. Who would have the key to get in?

Typically Emergency Management, someone at council, or if a independent installation (even if EM controlled): the premises on the installation (ie. Fire station).

- Do Thunderbolts ever go off accidentally? If so, how/why would that happen?

There have been incidents where a siren (not exclusively Thunderbolts) has been set off because of a short in the wiring (simply because of old age) or someone "accidentally" pushed the Attack button. Any number of reasons can contribute to a false activation.

- In the Midwest, who maintains or repairs these old Thunderbolts to make sure they're in proper shape? An outside agency hired by the local authority? How often might that maintenance occur? Would someone from the local authority be on hand to oversee the maintenance?

Depends on the municipality. Some EMA's will perform maintenance themselves, or thumb the job over to an electrical contractor for a fee.

Maintenance is dependent on EM procedures. It can be once a week, month, year or until the siren breaks down; or isn't maintained at all, it's just simply expected to work.

- What's the most typical maintenance issue with a Thunderbolt that makes it stop working properly?

Can either be that the collector rings (or brushes, or both) have had it, belts in the rotator or blower have worn and snapped, the blower just needs a clean and new oiling or some other part needs a lubrication. This is dependent on the location and use of the siren.

- What type of damage might a Thunderbolt sustain if it were struck by lightning?

Almost certainly fried electrics (including the motors), and maybe some melting of the metal where the bolt of lightning struck.

- For Thunderbolts that are mounted on top of buildings, what is the noise like for people inside, just underneath? (There's a Thunderbolt on top of a three-story Catholic school in Belvidere, and I always imagined the kids on the top floor going deaf from the noise directly above them during the monthly tests.)

If your standing directly under a Thunderbolt horn, you will not receive the same exposure when you stand a few metres in front of the horn. This is because the sound energy is focused outwards rather than downwards. It will still be loud of course.
Inside buildings, Thunderbolt's roaring overhead should be bearable; depending on the buildings construction.

I've tried to answer these as correctly as possible, from all of the information that my brain has collected over the many years of browsing these forums.

Hope it helps.

[Jim_Ferer]

The 911 center usually sets off the local sirens. The local police/fire dispatcher or desk usually can also start the system. It's seldom one person or body.

There are protocols for the conditions to activate a siren system. For example, if NOAA declares a tornado alert then the 911 center can start the sirens without getting further specific permission. You would think the senior emergency service official around (EMA, police, or fire chief) could order the system turned on.

Make your characters real. Don't have them say anything you wouldn't say.

[Aceorton]

Thanks for the help so far, guys.

The first of (probably) many follow-up questions:

If a Thunderbolt is part of an old system and activated by phone, is the process as simple as it sounds? Do you just pick up the phone, dial a local number that goes directly to the siren control box, and off she blows? (I would imagine there'd have to be something more to it than I've just described, or else someone dialing that number by mistake would accidentally trigger the system.)

Would there be a code involved?

[Jim_Ferer]

For years the Washington DC metropolitan area (almost 500 sirens) was activated by a Western Electric landline system. Our department's dispatch center had a telephone-like dial under a hinged, glass-faced cover. Where the numbers would have gone on a telephone dial were words: Alert, Attack, Test, Stop. To turn the sirens on, the user dialed the desired signal *twice,* but only had to dial "Stop" once. There was also an open-loop (continuous party line) phone/speakerphone system between all the dispatch centers and the Civil Defense center in Maryland.

The system was later replaced by radio controls.

[Aceorton]

What would those radio controls look like?

[CABLEVision]

Like something out of back to the future of course. But it is usually just a small box on a desk that looks allot like a intercom paging system.

[Aceorton]

That's fantastic. It helps to be able to see photos.

This paragraph totally lost me:
Three models of tone encoders are available. The Model TE5 gives you single button operation of up to five single tones or four dual tones. The Model TE10 provides 10 single code tones, nine dual tone (sequential) codes with common first tone, or twenty-five dual tones (5 first tones) two button operation. It can also provide a mixture of nine single and dual tone codes.

Could someone explain single and dual code tones, and why there would be so many? I don't understand what is pushed on this box to cue up a siren. Do you enter a code of X many buttons? Does one button activate a string of code? Does one code start one individual siren, or all the sirens?

Pardon my ignorance on so much of this.

[Conky 2000]

I have been inside a large building that was much like a 1930's school, and you can feel (not to mention hear) the windows vibrating. Yes it is tolerable, even if it's 6 floors up, but since I'm such a scaredy-cat, I would want to be a good mile away from it when it activates. But then, that's just me.

[bwillcox]

Maybe I can help (or I may be even further over your head)

The actual radio receiver is usually just a typical handheld or mobile radio. Think of the radios your police or fire department use, only stuffed inside a gray box with an antenna on the top or attached to the side of the siren's pole.

The encoder can be as simple as a box that has Alert, Attack or Cancel, up to phone keypad style boxes that will set off specific zones of sirens for a specifc code entered, up to something as sophisticated as a computer running something like Federal's Commander system where you can set off one siren only or all of the sirens in town with a couple of mouse clicks.

The control systems can be one way; the controller only can talk to the sirens, or full two way; meaning the sirens can talk back to the controller and report "hey base I am working fine" "help my battery is tired" or "HELP HELP those kids have broken into my control boxes again!"

The actual radio signal can be two tone sequential (called Quick Call 2), Speedcall DTMF (like a telephone but way faster than a human can dial) or a digital format like ASC Compualert

The two tone systems typically use one tone sequence for alert, one for attack, and one for cancel.

This file is long but it is an excellent example of controlling sirens with a two-tone system. Highland Village Texas siren test

Hopefully the examples will help. You can look at the various pages on my site if you want to see some closeups of some real-world siren installs.

-b