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Bijay
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Benton County, Washington Siren Systems

Sat Dec 25, 2021 8:25 am

I thought I'd compile some information about a few siren systems in Benton County, Washington. I'll start with a lesser-known system, the Umatilla Chemical Depot system and work my way up from there.

For background, the Umatilla Chemical Depot had a system of 76 sirens spread out throughout three counties in both Oregon and Washington. 20 of the sirens were installed in Southern Benton County, Washington. Something unique, but odd that I found out about the sirens installed in Benton County, Washington is that they were contrary to the Whelen 2800 system employed in the Oregon side of the system. Instead of Whelen 2800s, the Washington side of the system was comprised of 20 Federal Signal Modulator 6048s. An image of one of these sirens was taken and submitted on The Siren Archive. The system was later dismantled in Winter of 2011 following the successful incineration of the last ton of nerve agent. Yet again, contrary to the fate of the Oregon side of the system, these sirens were disposed of by a private contractor instead of being sent out to to the coast to serve as tsunami sirens. Strange, isn't it?

Moving on from the Umatilla system, another system in Benton County, Washington is the Columbia Nuclear Power Plant system.

The Columbia Nuclear Power Plant has a system comprised of both Whelen 2800 and 2900 sirens which are tested annually on the 3rd Thursday of October between 10:00AM and noon. The system has changed a lot from when it was first employed in 1981. Several of the sirens that were originally installed then were never replaced and basically no-longer exist now. It appears from documentation that the system was upgraded in 1997 as there is mention through testing reports of the sirens as "9 cell" and "6 cell" are dead giveaways to what exists now.

Lastly, the Hanford's 100 Areas

The Hanford's 100 Areas system appears to be linked with the main Hanford Facility West of the Columbia Nuclear Power Plant. They test on the 3rd Thursday of April between 12:30PM and 1:30PM with various sets of tones. With what is given, I could only assume of the sirens being used for various sorts of purposes ranging from accidents, break-ins, and possibly shifts.

So, those are the few siren systems in Benton County, Washington. Thought it'd be something a few of you may find interesting. If you'd like to addon any information to any of the systems, or just comment, feel free to reply below.
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Bijay/chefiBG
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