The Siren Board

I get that siren malfunctions and fails are nothing to sneeze at considering the sirens' purpose and the implications of a complete fail, but sometimes it's hilarious when sirens sound awful. What's the funniest siren fail you've seen in person or on the internet?

Personally, the funniest to me were when WarningSirensOfMichiana recorded a Whelen WS-2016 completely die internally in Woodburn, Indiana and when the old Taycheedah Wisconsin Soundmaster 115 did a silent hi-lo signal.

Whelen WS-2016 fail video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTUW55SxBNA
Soundmaster 115 Clicking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxU-nPp3xdI

In person? Had a system go for a third time because dispatch hit the wrong button. Oops.

Lol. In FDL, there was a T-128 that went for almost 30 minutes. From where I was, I barely heard it, but I'm sure some people panicked. I don't remember when it was.

Not my videos, but there's something about a Thunderbolt that can't hold pitch... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qmegBq4I8I
And while it's technically not malfunctioning, this 500-SHTT spinning like a top has always been a favorite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iWDtVkUaKg

Ziginox wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:01 pm

Not my videos, but there's something about a Thunderbolt that can't hold pitch... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qmegBq4I8I
And while it's technically not malfunctioning, this 500-SHTT spinning like a top has always been a favorite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iWDtVkUaKg

And I suppose I should probably share my own video, the gargling Whelen from forever ago


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeYqvdyWwsM

EDIT: It seems that I keep clicking the wrong button. I intended to edit my previous post, damn this new theme!

An ACA P-50 with a welded contactor that sounded for over 30 minutes and had to be shut down with the disconnect switch
https://youtu.be/FijDkVUe680

During the CSEPP program in Umatilla, their system was tripped on many various occasions, the most notorious occurring on Dec 31, 1999 IIRC.

There was a video floating around of mods running the PA function, and they were getting polled,so for about five minutes the entire city was blasted with FSK

One of the funniest siren malfunctions I've seen in person is when the EOWS 115 in Hartford, Wisconsin was pulsing during its test due to low batteries. It was doing something similar to the Hormann siren in Nekoosa, WI. Thankfully, this siren has since been fixed. https://youtu.be/NvMOERMxH0A

Definitely my first findings of "Hula HOR"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWfbAaLykxA