By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Sept. 3, 2020) Berlin residents have been discussing the pros and cons of the Berlin Fire Company sirens that have been a fixture in town for generations.

Author and professor Joan Maloof sought opinions on the loud sirens in the “We Love Berlin” Facebook group and expressed curiosity about implementing different technology such as mass text messages or calls to the volunteers’ cell phones.

“This has been a discussion that has already been hashed out with the town and a compromise reached, said resident Cate Carrick Nellans. “I’ve lived here my entire life and am raising children close to the sirens and have never had a problem – I would be very glad for it, if I am in an emergency situation.”

Other parents commented that it bothers them when they are trying to put children to bed.

In contrast, some residents said they find the sirens a charming aspect of the town.

“When my children were little, I didn’t like it because the dog would howl and ruin their nap, but on the whole, I like it. It’s quaint and part of our town,” wrote resident Debi Thompson. “It reminds me to say a prayer for whatever has happened. We always had a tradition at Buckingham Presbyterian if the siren went off on Sunday morning, we would stop what we were doing and take a moment to pray. It connects us, and so I like the siren. It’s part of our little town.”

For visitors who are unfamiliar with the series of wails, the sirens can be startling.

“I have customers frightened by it a lot, but when I explain that it’s our fire alarm, they go on with their business,” Emily Cook Vocke, owner of Heart of Gold Kids on Main Street, responded on Facebook. “I find it kind of charming as well. We tell our kids it’s the Berlin bedtime alarm when it works in our favor.”

The three fire siren poles in town are located at the Berlin Fire Company, on the water tower between Franklin Avenue and Bryan Avenue and behind the town hall offices between William and Pitts Street.

“The purpose of the sirens in the county, including the Berlin Fire Company, are for emergency alerting, for what they call emergency management or weather functions,” said David Fitzgerald, president of the Berlin Fire Company. “They alert the public that they need to go tune into media … because there is some sort of imminent danger.”

With the prediction that the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs through Nov. 30, will be an “above-average” season, the sirens could be a vital means of warning residents to take safety measures during tropical storms, such as the recent Tropical Storm Isaias.

“The emergency services siren is a steady, approximately 90 seconds to two minutes solid tone,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald added that the sirens also serve to alert the Berlin Fire Company members about emergency response calls.

The sirens are activated for fire company emergency responses countywide, not for ambulance calls.

The sirens play an important factor in alerting the volunteers to report to the Berlin Fire Company on North Main Street for duty.

“It’s a supplementary system,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s part of a multiple alert system. It’s a critical portion so we ensure that volunteer members are alerted.”

Fitzgerald said the sirens are a complement to other technology, such as pagers or mass text messages, since volunteers might not have their cell phones on hand, or if a storm affects communications.

“The siren, out of all the years, the siren is actually the most dependable,” Fitzgerald said.

Furthermore, the sirens warn the public to be aware of emergency vehicles on the road and yield as necessary.

The fire company siren has an up and down pattern that sounds three or four times, Fitzgerald added.

He also noted that the sirens are tested once a month to ensure they are functioning properly and provide the public with a brief example of the difference in the siren sounds.