JB Weld Ain't Gonna Fix This One: Columbus, GA 2810 Eats Dirt
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 12:33 am
Earlier today one of the enthusiasts in the area sent me a PM in Facebook about the siren in the city by Brookstone School saying the siren disappeared. I was under the impression that the city or their vendor removed the siren to have its drivers replaced, since it's not at all easy to replace drivers in 2800 series sirens, let alone doing it while the head's still on the pole. I also thought the city might have moved it back towards the school, since the location was so close to the street. When I got there after class to investigate the site, I was greeted with a pole, a mounting bracket, and the bottom half of the last cell with the driver wires hanging out in the wind. When I pulled to the side of the road and looked around the pole on the ground laid the 2810, now reduced to a 2803 and 2802, give or take a few cells. Pictures first, back story after.
So how did this happen? If you ask anyone in the city about road work they usually associate it with the word "roundabout." We've been constructing so many it's become a meme. Whelp, that's what was happening. A construction worker apparently backed into the siren with a large piece of equipment. The pole itself actually looks fine, like there really isn't even a scratch on there to the naked eye.
So what now? Time for a new siren. After speaking with the EMA director I found that it will be replaced in the near future with a 2910. It'll be the first 2900 series siren to be installed in the system and the first 2910 in the general area considering all of the bigger omnidirectional Whelen sirens from the surrounding counties in Alabama and Georgia are all 2809/2909's. I'll see if I can swing by when they do the installation.
So how did this happen? If you ask anyone in the city about road work they usually associate it with the word "roundabout." We've been constructing so many it's become a meme. Whelp, that's what was happening. A construction worker apparently backed into the siren with a large piece of equipment. The pole itself actually looks fine, like there really isn't even a scratch on there to the naked eye.
So what now? Time for a new siren. After speaking with the EMA director I found that it will be replaced in the near future with a 2910. It'll be the first 2900 series siren to be installed in the system and the first 2910 in the general area considering all of the bigger omnidirectional Whelen sirens from the surrounding counties in Alabama and Georgia are all 2809/2909's. I'll see if I can swing by when they do the installation.