Word of Wisedom on Aquiring Sirens

[Archon]

IF you want or are planning to acquire a used siren that is in service or is on city ground NOTE:!! City or county government does Not move fast it will take time and sometimes a long time it is no unusual for 1, 2, or 3 years before you get them I have waited up to 3 years already for them. bugging them does not work and sometimes then they will just brush you off.

1 Some city county Sell at Auction
2. Some will scrape and not sell them
3. some have closed bidding notices in the local paper
4. some will only sell to other municipalities
5. Some will sell to you but you have to take them down
6. Some will sell them you and take them down (Get a lottery ticket if this happened s because you got very lucky
7 Some trade them in to who is installing the new ones
8 some sell between other siren collectors

Just my 2 cents

[EL1998P71]

I would suggest buying from.....

West shore service
Werden Electric
Siren for cities
Siren Central
or other installer of outdoor warning devices before going the municipal route.

[Charlie Davidson]

I would suggest buying from.....

West shore service
Werden Electric
Siren for cities
Siren Central
or other installer of outdoor warning devices before going the municipal route.

Just to put in my two cents,

I've done business with Sirens for Cities (aka Ed Wise) in the past. Based on my experience they are very nice, friendly, helpful and negotiable people to work with and I will definitely do business with them again if I find something of interest.

I've personally tried to talk a municipality into acquiring their old unused sirens, even take them down (and still am trying to) just to never receive any word back from the actual people. Seems like you have to know people "in high places" to find out information at times, because that's what I'm working on at the moment. I've been waiting a year so far and don't intend to give up anytime soon. It's not an easy task at all when you are dealing with a municipality that doesn't know you, but if you know people in high places, it will get you further.

[Archon]

My longest time trying to acquire a Milwaukee Model 2 is 23 years and still going

[Siren_Dude]

My longest time trying to acquire a Milwaukee Model 2 is 23 years and still going

Wow 23 years! Do you still call them once in a while or have you given up?

[CDV777-1]

It's not an easy task at all when you are dealing with a municipality that doesn't know you, but if you know people in high places, it will get you further.

I never knew anybody with a city that I got sirens from. I just called and asked about the stuff. I got a ton of stuff from Gainesville for $200. I spotted it at the city lot and called and asked about it. It took several months. The city manager finally told me to make an offer and he accepted the $200 offer I gave him. I got a 2t22, a complete 1000t and 3 or 4 1000 Thunderbolt heads out of that deal. With the Sherman 1003 head I got I just called the city and asked for the emergency management person. After changing EM directors 3 times over 5-6 years I finally got them to loan it to me permanently. I had to have it removed but it was well worth it. I've been to 4 city auctions trying to get sirens and never had any luck because I didn't have much to spend.

I would suggest buying from.....

West shore service
Werden Electric
Siren for cities
Siren Central
or other installer of outdoor warning devices before going the municipal route.

I guess if you have plenty of $$$ those companies are a way to go. They are way to expensive a source to purchase a siren from just to mess around with in my opinion. I guess if you have hundreds/thousands to spend and no other way to get siren stuff they are the only way to go though.

What will really tick you off is if you keep contacting a city over a period of months about some sirens at their city lot. They have an auction coming up and you are trying to keep track of the auction info so you can get there to try for the sirens. You finally call the city again a few days before the auction and the lady with the city says "Oh my god! Thanks for calling again! I forgot to have them move those sirens over to the auction location! I really appreciate it!" You get to the auction thinking to yourself that you are the main reason all the sirens are there at the auction site and that the city wouldn't moved them there if you wouldn't have called. You then screw up on bidding on the stuff you want and can't get the sirens because you bid "choice" thinking your total was only going to be about $200. Turns out "choice" means that it's $200 for each thing you bid on and you have to default on the bid because you don't have nearly enough money. Then they resell everything you defaulted on paying for in one lot for about $200 anyway. That's what happened to me at the Sherman auciton back in 2001. It was my first auction and a total nighmare.

[holler]

I've been pretty lucky, Bibb county is giving me their old sirens to me if I take them down.

Most of the time though they either ignore you or suddenly decide they need it.

[3t22]

Even if you happen to know someone in "high places" dosen't nessessarly gaurentee you a siren, even if the siren was removed from it's pole. I'm in the process of going through this with a very recently removed siren (in the past few months). I of course got the ol "well it's got to go through auction ect ect" the day after it was removed, and now "well we're going through budget problems ect ect". But the siren was saved from the scrap heap thanks to me.

Also not disclosing the location of a removed or soon to be removed/replaced siren helps. Save you a lot of heartache when an overzelous enthuiast swipes it under the cover of darkness thanks to "your tip off".

[Jack Schroll]

It took me over two years of meetings with the Preservation Council in Oakland before they let me remove my siren. I paid for the entire removal. The paper work, insurance, crane, crane operators credentials all had to be in order. They worked with me. I never felt it was an uphill battle. I just takes time. Everything seems to move in slow motion. It was worth the wait. They did prune the trees so they wouldn't be harmed by the crane. I had an arborhist on call, but did not have to use him. Out of pocket expenses were close to $2500. A bargain at twice the price, IMHO.

Jack

[JPayne9207]

In my own personal experience with dealing with big city's on their old siren systems, they either say they don't know and pass me off to someone else, or it's none of my business and they are too busy with other things than to answer me & brush me off.