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Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:16 pm
by JonTishBass
This discussion is to talk about the outdoor warning sirens of Franklin County, Ohio. Columbus, Ohio has possibly the largest amount of Whelen outdoor warning sirens in the country. With over 196 known sirens county-wide, those sirens are mostly known as WPS-4004's and WPS-3016's, varying in ages and tones. Dublin also has omni-directional Whelen sirens (2700 and 2800 series). The whole county tests their sirens every Wednesday at 12:00 pm, doing a 22 second alert cycle, waiting 40 seconds, and another 22 second alert cycle. These sirens are voice compatible, however testing voice only happened on the first Wednesday of every month, saying the message, "Testing, Franklin County Sirens Testing" (DTMF included), and was discontinued around December of 2018. For tornado warnings, the system sounds a 3 minute alert, resting 7 minutes, then sounding another 3 minutes of alert until the warning is over. Tornado warnings had also used voice, saying the message, "Tornado Warning Franklin County Seek Shelter" (DTMF included), and was also discontinued around 2012. Franklin County also has 2 Thunderbolt 1000T's still standing (inactive) as well as a Model 5 on top of a fire station (inactive). They also used to have an STL-10 that was removed in early 2019 due to the building it was on being refurbished.

- Feel free to talk about siren updates/controller updates, or something you notice about the system.

*Almost none of Franklin County's WPS-3016's have the analog ESC-864, if you find one let me know, one of the WPS-3016's has a digital ESC-864, making it the only WPS-3016 in the state of Ohio to have a digital ESC-864

*Franklin County is also known for having the only dual toned WPS-4004 in the state of Ohio, located in Westerville off of Merlin Drive behind Kroger

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 10:25 pm
by SirokatM1
According to Franklin County's webpage, Franklin County has 196 total sirens that are activated in four different zones.
https://fcemhs.org/Warning/Outdoor-Warning-Siren-System

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 12:28 am
by nvanw27
JonTishBass wrote:
Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:16 pm
These sirens are voice compatible, however testing voice only happened on the first Wednesday of every month, saying the message, "Testing, Franklin County Sirens Testing" (DTMF included), and was discontinued around 2016.
This feature was actually discontinued early this year (2019). A few videos from 2018 and 2017 feature the voice test.

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 1:43 am
by JonTishBass
Yeah I wasn't sure at first I just kinda estimated

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:37 pm
by Tuba
Dublin has 29 Whelen 27/28/2905s. They also test every wednesday at noon with voice and a small 10 secondish alert (Noon blast). They sound wail for tornado warnings. All of the dublin sirens are 560hz. Dublin is known for their weird siren locations, with some being less than half a mile apart.

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:47 am
by Fletch
If you drive out to Cosgray Rd. in Dublin, there are two Whelens that are merely 1781 ft. away from each other.

What rational is there for sirens so close? There are sports fields but doesn't make a lot of sense.

Someone should get a video of those two Whelens.

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 3:32 am
by Tuba
Here’s a screenshot from the map of the 2 Darre (Pronounced Dar-ree) Whelens. The southern one is a 2905 and the northern one a 2805.

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 12:39 pm
by JonTishBass
Fletch wrote:
Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:47 am
If you drive out to Cosgray Rd. in Dublin, there are two Whelens that are merely 1781 ft. away from each other.

What rational is there for sirens so close? There are sports fields but doesn't make a lot of sense.

Someone should get a video of those two Whelens.
I seemed to notice this as well when I was going to a garage sale over in Dublin. It kinda confuses me why these to are so close to each other. In fact I could see both sirens at some points on that road.

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 11:31 pm
by Tuba
Just want to note the NON WHELENS in Franklin County (Yes they exist)

-Decommissioned Thunderbolts, STL-10s, and Model 5s (?) around urban Columbus, especially around the short north and OSU.

-A Fedelcode in downtown Dublin (inactive)

-An ASC E-Class 3 on the Chase bank building next to Polaris (unknown use)

-2 ASC E-CLASS 4s in the Columbus State Campus in downtown

Re: Franklin County, Ohio Siren Discussion

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2019 2:56 am
by Fletch
The Model 5/7 might be in the tower of fire station 10 on W. Broad St.

The two Whelens on Cosgray: Apparently the northern siren was there in 2007 on StreetView. The southern one hadn't been installed.