The city of Mount Shasta, California, kept their old Erick siren on the roof of the police station but had not tested it since the 1960's. It was installed in 1925 to replace an electrically-rung fire bell, but by the 1940's, a network of air horns was installed for fire calls and the siren was used only for civil defense. Later, the siren was reserved for volcanic emergencies, but was never tested. The horns were operated by a Federal Electric clockwork controller, and the siren was on a manual switch.
One day in 2004, something shorted out in a junction box and the siren turned itself on for the first time in almost 50 years. Nobody in the town knew what to do about it, since the air horns were abandoned in the 1990's and the siren had never been heard before. After a few minutes, they found the correct circuit and cut the power. Later that year, the siren and the original 1910-era fire tower and bell were removed from the roof of the building. The bell was mounted on the front of the fire hall, the horns still sit on the roof unused, and the siren and tower disappeared.