Did anyone just hear loud, almost air-raid sounding sirens going off in the Dormont area?

Submitted by sharklepower t3_zwyxej in pittsburgh

I live really close to Dormont park and I could hear very loud sirens going off (I heard them inside my house, with noise cancelling headphones on!) for about 10 minutes straight around 10:15pm tonight. Anyone have any idea what it could be? Definitely not a fire truck and did not sound like the tornado sirens I've heard here.

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a_waltz_for_debby t1_j1y1zbz wrote

Volunteer fire department whistle

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dingurth1 t1_j1y2x31 wrote

thank you, I've been hearing this a couple times a week the past couple months, but the only other time I've heard that noise is with tornado sirens. I must just have a good vantage point

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kds5065 t1_j1yq0r2 wrote

Is this a Pittsburgh thing? My GF recently moved up from Virginia and asked me about the "Silent Hill sirens".

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lzsbrn t1_j1yuo4n wrote

I don’t think it’s unique to Pittsburgh. I lived in Northeastern PA for some time and we had them there.

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a_waltz_for_debby t1_j1z58rn wrote

In some ways, it is yes. Because we have so many small municipalities - Townships and Burroughs, and they all have to provide police and fire. There’s a lot of them who still have volunteer fire departments because they are too stubborn to merge or form a county wide system.

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mrsrtz t1_j1xo9rd wrote

Pulsepoint has "Public Service" listed at the Dormont VFD at 10:12, FWIW.

Edited to add: I looked up what Pulsepoint classes as Public Service:

"Assist

Public Service (PS) The incident type Public Service is typically used for lower priority routine calls. Use of this catch-all category varies between agencies but is commonly used for incidents such as a leaking hydrant, a low-hanging sign, or assistance with an appliance (e.g., pilot light, won't turn off, making a funny sound). Even the classic "cat stuck in a tree" call would likely be coded as a Public Service type."

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TheEternalNOP t1_j1xm01x wrote

It was at least 3 alarms. They are old rotary air horns, likely on top of the municple building. I thought it was from Scott but I guess I am wrong.

Lebo used to test one's on Lincoln Elementary once a month on a Saturday at 1 pm. They haven't used them for years...

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greentea1985 t1_j1xyfgn wrote

I didn't hear it even though I live close to Dormont. It's probably a fire whistle summoning the volunteer fire fighters.

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Subject-Passenger340 t1_j1z8ep5 wrote

Dormont doesn't have one but the surrounding communities do like Greentree. It sounds pretty loud depending on where you're at in Dormont.

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happyjazzycook t1_j1zkzk3 wrote

The very loud fire department horn on the top of the municipal building in Sewickley was disabled a few months ago, citing the fact that everyone now has cell phones and volunteers can be notified in that way. I'm surprised that most municipalities don't do this.

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