The Siren Board

This post is about the Whelen 2809s and 2810s in Joppa Magnolia, MD and Aberdeen, MD. These sirens were unused in the first place, but now all of them have been removed. These sirens were originally owned and used for the Aberdeen Proving Grounds community alert system, but were sold to HCMD in the mid-late 2000's. In the early 2010s, they ceased use of all but 3, these three being in Havre De Grace, MD. (I believe one WPS-2809 in Joppa may have been used a while longer than the rest, but it also ceased use as well.) Now, the WPS-2809 at Stancil field has stopped functioning (I believe it has radio problems) and the county has not fixed it for years.
But, let's get to the point. This isn't about Havre De Grace's Whelens.
The Whelens in Joppa were removed a week or two ago. We had only discovered three, one was discovered very recently. They are now all gone, and the only way we can figure out if there is more is by using street view.
The Whelens in Aberdeen were removed a day before this post was made, I figured that out today when I passed by the former location of the Starbucks/Home Depot whelen. The church one is also gone, and it'd only make sense that the school one disappeared too.
I have reason to believe that Stancil field's siren is next, since it hasn't been functioning.

wonder where they're going?

Model L wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:10 am

wonder where they're going?

I too wonder the same thing. I hope the EMA is either replacing or relocating them.

Another (former) whelen has been found at Edgewood senior high school.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.4251368 ... 384!8i8192
WPS-2809, probably now removed.

I believe these sirens were used as community alert for when the APG used Mustard Gas that was highly dangerous. Since they don't use mustard gas anymore there's no need for sirens. Now they just have the iForces.

crusty tomato wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 3:06 pm

I believe these sirens were used as community alert for when the APG used Mustard Gas that was highly dangerous. Since they don't use mustard gas anymore there's no need for sirens. Now they just have the iForces.

That's a good point, but around the time these were installed was when Harford had switched to Whelen. Also, I've talked to a fire fighter in the area, and he said that when the Whelens were installed in Havre De Grace, the old system of STH-10As were deactivated and removed [exempting the hose company siren]. He actually was one of the people to take down the old sirens. He remembers getting up in a bucket truck with a saw and cutting the support beams out, and lifting the siren down with a crane. Unfortunately, he said they were scrapped except one, which went to Perryville [which rarely goes off.]
I haven't talked to a firefighter in Aberdeen or Joppa yet, but I assume it was the same for those towns.

apologies for the small bump, but those whelen ESCs look rather odd. 3 battery boxes, two radios? I have never seen that before, any explanation on them?

SirensOfAustralia wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:47 am

apologies for the small bump, but those whelen ESCs look rather odd. 3 battery boxes, two radios? I have never seen that before, any explanation on them?

The whole unit is full-DC, so I could see why they installed additional batteries adjacent to the main controller, however, why they have two radio boxes is beyond my comprehension. I would assume Whelen gave them an additional with the extra battery package.

Bijay wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:08 pm

SirensOfAustralia wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:47 am

apologies for the small bump, but those whelen ESCs look rather odd. 3 battery boxes, two radios? I have never seen that before, any explanation on them?

The whole unit is full-DC, so I could see why they installed additional batteries adjacent to the main controller, however, why they have two radio boxes is beyond my comprehension. I would assume Whelen gave them an additional with the extra battery package.

ah that makes sense

Bijay wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:08 pm

SirensOfAustralia wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:47 am

apologies for the small bump, but those whelen ESCs look rather odd. 3 battery boxes, two radios? I have never seen that before, any explanation on them?

The whole unit is full-DC, so I could see why they installed additional batteries adjacent to the main controller, however, why they have two radio boxes is beyond my comprehension. I would assume Whelen gave them an additional with the extra battery package.

This is kind of off topic, but just to clarify, which part is the battery box and what part is the radio? How do you know there are two?