Fri Aug 26, 2022 11:34 am
A little info about Lethbridge, AB's former CD Siren System:
Don’t forget to “duck and cover!”
Lethbridge’s Air Raid Siren/Civil Defence Siren
As with other communities across North America, Lethbridge was affected by the Cold War in the 1950s and the concern of attack. An air attack or a nuclear attack was something many people and governments believed might happen. The governments decided something needed to be done to prepare the citizens and one way was to have a siren that would alert the community when there was danger.
The 13 September 1951 Lethbridge Herald noted that “Four Alberta industrial centres – Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat – soon will receive air raid alarm siren systems from the federal government, Provincial Secretary C.E. Gerhart said today.”
It would take a while for the sirens to actually be delivered and installed.
The 4 November 1954 Lethbridge Herald commented on the initial test of the new sirens.
Sirens were installed behind City Hall, at the corner of 7th Ave S and Mayor Magrath Drive and the corner of 9th Ave N and 13th St (near Adams Park). The test showed that the new sirens were not very effective at their first test:
“Lethbridge’s civil defence organization sounded its air raid sirens Wednesday, but, if it really had been an air raid, most Lethbridge citizens would still be wondering what hit them.
The sirens sounded in the first test since they were installed and, while they provided an ominous enough warning to those in their vicinity, they could not be heard by residents any distance away.”
The city’s electrical department was planning to do tests to determine why the sirens weren’t heard by everyone.
Concerns about people’s ability to hear sirens was not just evident in Lethbridge. The 2 January 1959 Lethbridge Herald wrote about concerns from across Canada as to whether sirens or bells were better for air raid and emergency use. Lethbridge was firmly behind sirens.
And for those too young to remember, "duck and cover" was what you were supposed to do when you heard the siren.
We’ll have more on the Civil Defence activities in Lethbridge in another article.
You can find my siren maps, pictures at this website:
https://szarfaszu-pocegodor.webnode.hu/
Owner of: EK I 6 Port 220V Air Raid Siren, 4 Port Small Car Alarm Siren 24V, Police Siren with different Tones 12V