The Bell Tolls for San Francisco’s Air Raid Sirens

Since World War II, the city of San Francisco has sounded old air-raid sirens every Tuesday at noon as a practice for its emergency warning system. But those sirens will soon sound no more, as the city is replacing the outdated sirens with a new state-of-the-art emergency warning system.

In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, writer Rachel Gordon says the city is replacing the sirens with the new system, which is designed to alert the public in case of earthquakes, bioterror attacks or other disasters. "The new outdoor warning system will allow authorities to communicate with the public on a real-time basis," she says, "telling people, for instance, to stay indoors or evacuate specific areas."

"This is a remarkably important tool for San Francisco's emergency response system," Mayor Gavin Newsom told reporters during a press conference last week. The city’s old system, Gordon says, has fallen into disrepair over the years, with only about a dozen of the original 50 sirens in working order.

Officials are replacing the old mechanical devices with a digital system that will be both siren and public address system, located in 65 locations in the city.

To read the full article, click here: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/10/BAGRJ9P2GO1.DTL