By Peter Marteka
Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 The Hartford Courant Company
All Rights Reserved
GLASTONBURY, Conn. — If you hear the sounds of sirens filling the air, then expect the blue lights of volunteer firefighters racing to the firehouse, followed by the sight of firetrucks pulling out of the firehouse racing to an emergency.
The Glastonbury Volunteer Fire Department has installed new sirens at Fire Company 1 and Company 2. Now, all four of the town’s fire stations have sirens at their firehouse.
“It is important to the department to have this capability to alert our firefighters when there is an emergency incident,” said Fire Chief Matthew Nelson, adding the sirens will work in conjunction with pagers the volunteers carry with them.
But don’t expect the sirens to sound 24 hours a day. They will be used only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and will sound for three cycles per activation. The new units are quieter than ones installed several years ago.
The department has created a siren use policy.
“Fire department officers may, on occasion, call for additional activations or nighttime activations when they need help from more responding fire personnel or there is a severe traffic situation,” Nelson said. “The department is respectful of our neighbors who may be inconvenienced by the noise.”
The sirens also function as outdoor warning systems that can broadcast messages with instructions for the public in the event of a major emergency. The sirens will be activated at the public safety dispatch center, Company 1 and the emergency management facility at town hall.
“This is indeed a plus for the town to have this enhanced degree of population warning for major emergency situations so they can be alerted of an upcoming critical event,” emergency management director Robert DiBella said Monday.
The sirens will be tested each day at noon with a short burst that will not reach the high end of the siren cycle. DiBella and his emergency management team will test the sirens the first Saturday of each month at 11 a.m. The team will also test the audible emergency warning system twice a year.
Fires will be indicated by three rounds of the siren cycling up and down. The public warning system will consist of a sustained, non-wavering siren alert. The public warning system tells the public to tune in to radio and television for an emergency broadcast message. Most likely, the sirens would go off for a hurricane, tornado, blizzard or other severe weather.
There is also a public warning alert that is intended to warn the public of an immediate threat to the community. The signal is a sustained wavering alert that informs the public to take immediate action to protect themselves.