LAist asked the L.A. County Office of Emergency Management if officials might consider sirens, but it declined to comment until an after-action report about the January fires is complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe McChrystal After-Action Review is taking a comprehensive look at the capabilities the county possesses to alert and warn the public during emergencies,\u201d a spokesperson for the office wrote to LAist. \u201cUpon release of findings, we will look at the recommendations to see what improvements or enhancements to our alerting tools can best serve our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
A brief history of sirens<\/p>\n
Sirens were first developed for another type of disaster \u2014 war. You can find remnants of World War II and Cold War-era air raid sirens in cities<\/a> across Southern California<\/a>. In the mid-20th century, such sirens were novel technology. Some cities and towns eventually used them to alert other disasters and to call volunteer firefighters to stations.<\/p>\n But between the 1980s and mid-2000s, many of these aging sirens were decommissioned because they required costly maintenance \u2014 and because newer, more targeted technologies replaced them.<\/p>\n An air raid siren that was installed in Van Nuys in 1956. <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Courtesy L.A. Public Library<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n At the same time, these sirens became less effective as cities sprawled and buildings modernized. For example, newer standards of double- and even triple-pane windows makes it hard to hear even today\u2019s sirens from inside with the windows closed, said David Acu\u00f1a, a battalion chief and public information officer with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.<\/p>\n With the rise of pagers, and then cellphones, sirens largely went out of vogue, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSirens were the technological advancement in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s. Instead of having to go door-to-door, now we get to have the siren,\u201d Acu\u00f1a said. \u201cTechnology has surpassed that since then.\u201d<\/p>\n L.A., for example, decommissioned its air raid siren system in 1985<\/a>.<\/p>\n Where sirens are now<\/p>\n Communities across California still use sirens to alert their residents of a variety of emergencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here in Southern California, sirens are mostly used in coastal areas, historically to warn of tsunamis. For example, Huntington Beach<\/a>, Newport Beach<\/a> and Laguna Beach<\/a> all have audible outdoor siren systems. Torrance also uses sirens for emergencies<\/a>, including for leaks or explosions at nearby oil refineries. The decommissioned San Onofre nuclear plant once had sirens to warn of a meltdown.<\/p>\n When it comes to fire, more cities are considering sirens \u2013 if they can fund it. Beverly Hills, for example, installed a network of 12 sirens<\/a> after destructive fires across the state in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Sirens in an age of worsening wildfire<\/p>\n As wildfires grow hotter and more destructive, and the limits of cellphone alerts continue to be revealed, many communities are reconsidering sirens.<\/p>\n Take, for example, Paradise in Northern California\u2019s Butte County. In 2018, the Camp Fire razed the town, killing at least 85 people. At the time, Paradise had the CodeRED<\/a> phone alert system (and still does), but that fire led to cell service going out, and many people said they didn\u2019t receive alerts.<\/p>\n The community is still recovering today. As part of that recovery, Paradise decided to invest in 21 sirens, which, nearly seven years later, are up and running.<\/p>\n An outdoor warning siren in Paradise, Calif.<\/p>\n The new warning sirens in Paradise can be disguised as trees. <\/p>\n The sirens sound up to 90 decibels and can be operated manually via internet or satellite. They\u2019re hardwired to power underground, but also have solar and battery backup power.<\/p>\n But they are really only audible outside, and the ability to hear them can decrease dramatically just a slight distance away, said Mayor Steve Crowder, who lives about a quarter mile from one siren and couldn\u2019t hear it well from inside his house during tests.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were looking to be able to hear them from inside, with windows closed and not all of them have hit that mark,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n To solve for that, the town got additional funding to purchase transmitters that can be placed inside residents\u2019 homes. If the sirens go off, those will too. Paradise plans to distribute them this year, Crowder said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not going to be a cure all, but it’s sure going to make it a lot more efficient and I think make everybody a lot safer,\u201d Crowder said.<\/p>\n But the cost is high: The sirens were a little over $3 million, funded by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant. The town found additional funding for the transmitters.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/scpr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d1b5f5f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/649x800+0+0\/resize\/649x800!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fscpr-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2F6a%2F18%2Fc54d66554c138de4005539d36904%2Fphotos-49800-large.jpg\")
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