Evanston, IL is replacing their system of 1954 thunderbolts

[Tboltguy]

So my town of Evanston, IL (a suburb of chicago) is replacing our system of 1954 thunderbolt 1000s, and one 1000T that I do not know the year of. I encourage everyone to take a trip down here and film them while we still have them, they're being replaced in November. And yes, I've emailed the fire chief and city manager and I can't buy one, they said no . It really sucks. If anyone has any pictures of them please post them.

[archizackture]

Did they state the reason why you can't buy them? There's plenty of legal issues incurred with a direct sale or other property transfer from a public/government entity to a private citizen. The easiest course of action for them is probably to abandon them in a dump. If you can find out where they're being left, you could pick them up from there.

[Brendan Ahern]

What are they installing? A lot of times siren removal is included in the contract, then the installing company reimburses them the scrap value.

[Tboltguy]

archizackture,

all they said in the email was that they wouldn't be giving them out to any private citizens.

[nvanw27]

Another enthusiast confirmed that they are keeping them in storage for cities in need. Hopefully they stick to their word and don't scrap them, but only time will tell.

[Gil]

Hmm, I thought I saw somewhere that they were installed in the 1970’s. Could be wrong though.

I’m sure Braniff will get the job, and 2001’s will go up.

[fire_freak_57]

Hmm, I thought I saw somewhere that they were installed in the 1970’s. Could be wrong though.

I’m sure Braniff will get the job, and 2001’s will go up.

Braniff did get the job and 2001-130’s will be installed according to a source who lives in the area.

Evanston was the town I was born in, strangely enough. That system of Thunderbolts has been there all the 18 years I’ve been here and certainly long before then, but times change I suppose. 2001’s are certainly not bad replacement choices by any means.

[Snowcube]

1954? That's a lot of thunderbolts for a town that size. All joking aside, I hope they at least are being truthful about saving them for cities in need. I know that that didn't happen with some Allertors somewhere else recently.

[fire_freak_57]

All joking aside, I hope they at least are being truthful about saving them for cities in need. I know that that didn't happen with some Allertors somewhere else recently.

Yes, well what happened in that case was a legal order was made in 2012 when the sirens were purchased to scrap them upon removal and evidently in the 6 years since then the trustee forgot about that...and then remembered.

Honestly those Allertors were well past their time anyways. They had served Beaver Valley Nuclear for over 30 years prior to being scrapped there and being subsequently refurbed by Knox and placed back into service.

Also, their new system is online and it is a lot better. I have come to the conclusion that in that case, the other 3 units had electrical problems or some issue we didn’t know about. Originally I thought it was a radio issue, but upon hearing that all the new Sentry’s work fine on that existing radio system, that opens the door to the probable cause of failure being an electrical issue.

Anyways, back on topic here. Typically municipalities have to auction off property that they no longer need. It will be interesting to see if this is done or they sell them privately to other communities directly.