Sounding of Air Raid Sirens today

Dont know where this could go but thought i should mention this odd event today. I was back in my home city today of Liverpool. Twice today in the space of 20 mins i heard World war 2 type air raid sirens being sounded.

Is this a test or a preparation? I have heard many people on ATS discussing warning broadcasts seen on TV but world war 2 sirens is a bit outdated.

Is it normal to still be testing these things in this day and age?

They sound our sirens about once every week or so. Maybe its for the volunteer firemen.

Whereabout are you though? We dont have volunteer fireman in Liverpool only full time crews who are alerted of emergencies at their station or via radio

In my piece of the US, these sirens go off every Friday at 11 a.m. They are tests for tornado warning systems and now, I'm sure, Homeland Security. They are taking the upkeep of these sirens much more seriously here than has been done in the past. Last year many sirens were replaced by local governments utilizing Homeland Security dollars. Many sirens had been inoperable for years.

Peace.

In total jest, but couldn't resist....

There were 10 German bombers in the air,
10 German bombers in the air,
10 German bombers, 10 German bombers, 10 German bombers in the air,
And the RAF from England shot one down,
The RAF from England shot one down,
RAF from England, RAF from England, RAF from England shot one down

There were 9 German bombers in the air...

I was running along my favorite path when I heard a siren in town go off, about 8-10 miles away. Now maybe my memory is faulty, but it sounded distinctly different from the fire-station or the curfew siren... the first thing I thought was 'it's happening'. It being a national disaster, the yellowstone volcano popping (death for me where I live), just anything at all.

The siren stopped after 1 full minute, I figured it was a test, carried on running. I still don't like them testing emergency sirens. They make me ponder my mortality and the end of things.

I already know that 'they' are preparing to orchestrate events. Not a stretch of the imagination to figure why they're testing these sirens.

They go off here every day at about 2pm. They are testing the emergency siren for fawley refinery.

Perhaps you have something similar around there where they have to test a warning system.

Not that im aware of i lived there all my life until 5 year ago and im definitely certain there is no complex or anything that regulary test sirens. A few of my colleauges who still live in the area where with me and they were more puzzled than me as to the source of the sound. Not just that but we first heard a siren whilst driving to our location. Then about 20 mins later we heard another go off. These 2 incidents where about 4 mile apart and definitely not the same siren.

It just got me a bit eerie to hear these things blasting out

reply to post by NewWorldOver


You have a curfew siren...are you kidding? That seems a bit...well...a lot....wow. What kind of world are we living in when we have a curfew siren? Sorry to go off topic but I just had to ask if you were serious about that one.

Have you also noticed the tv commercials targeted at children lately asking if they have a family plan in a national emergency? It runs frequently right now.

To the OP, have you called to inquire yet why they went off? And is it to be a regular occurrence? Hope all is well where you are...remember...duck and cover....or is it stop drop and roll?

Peace

[edit on 29-2-2008 by DancedWithWolves]

This reminds of when I first moved to Switzerland. I was outside, hanging up the laundry when a very loud siren went off. Scared me, as it was the sound that you associate with impending doom. I went back inside my building and all the neighbors were quietly and in an orderly fashion making their way down to the basement. I speak broken German, enough to understand that I was to go with them.

That is when I discovered that our basement had a fallout shelter! Twice yearly the whole country has these drills, everyone goes down to the shelter they are assigned to. Most buildings with more then a few apartments have them. Once down there we eat cookies, drink coffee and the building marshal does a quick stock take of all the supplies. Anything that has gone off is taken away and new supplies are bought communally.

To say I was impressed, is an understatement. I have a lot of respect for the Swiss and their preparations.

Merigold: the swiss seem to value their citizens infinitely more than this country, that's for sure.

Originally posted by DancedWithWolves
You have a curfew siren...are you kidding?

Sure do, but it's not an everynight thing. They use it on certain schoolnights or friday nights when they know there are teenagers roaming the street at 3 am etc. It's a way to warn people that if you're under 18 you need to be inside.

As with the OP, we don't have any daily or even weekly scheduled tests so whenever a siren goes off it's for a specific cause. Still never heard of any fires or anything to explain the last test I heard... so I can't help but wonder.

[edit on 29-2-2008 by NewWorldOver]

Originally posted by thesaint

It just got me a bit eerie to hear these things blasting out

Gulp !! I live across the water but know Liverpool very well. Thi is the first time i've heard of this happening and i would back you to the hilt in saying this is very odd indeed. Somehting is very wrong. I have a friend who is quite high up in the emergency services and will have a discreet word about this. But if these are air raid seirens being tested it gives me the creeps.
Having said that i do think it was a mistake to dismantle many of the early warning sierens from civic locations across the UK after the end of the cold war. They should have remained in place for emergencies other than a nuclear war. But learning that they are testing ones in Liverpool sends shivers down my spine. Think i'm gonna get flashbacks of Threads now...

Sometimes old sirens are used to mark the comemeration of an event or significant happening from WW2.

They are also used as fire warning sirens for large factories and facilities.

As aluded to by the poster above me, the civil defense siren network was decommisioned.

Today is the 54th Anniversary of the first H-Bomb test in the Pacific. Maybe CND were staging a demonstration?

Edit. I said "the first", actually it wasn't. I guess it should say "A significant"

[edit on 1/0308/08 by neformore]

Well the only place i can think of is the Undergroudn bunkers for the Battle of Atlantic campaign in ww2. I've been down there and it makes you wonder what other hidden underground facilities they have underneath Liverpool we dont know about !!! I remember one woman who went ther and she burst into tears. When i asked what was wrong she said she had worked in the underground bunker but had not beeen able to tell anyone. Poor soul...

When I lived out in Hawaii, they went off the first working day of the month at 1145am. We used to joke that if we ever had a tsunami coming at us at that time we were all screwed because when they went off that day everyone just ignored them and went about their business.

Well i made my discreet enquiries today with my contact who works quite high up in the emergency services and nothing was known about the test. And this is one of the people who would have been informed of such an event.... the plot thickens as they say !!!

In the the town where my parents live (where I used to go to school when I was younger) they have drills/tests from time to time. They used to test the WW2 Air Sirens every 5 years or so. They did it mainly to test that they where operational, but at least one year the school made a drill out of it and had everyone move to the school's bomb shelters when they sounded. This is in Norway. Most if not all schools and public buildings have sturdy bomb shelters with several rooms with dual steel doors. I have lived in a bigger city now for about 5 years and have not heard air sirens go off a single time.

I guess the priority these tets get is governed by who controls the Town/district at the time, so I guess someone in Liverpool thought it was time to check if the air sirens still worked.