You may hear our sirens! The purpose of the sirens are to alert the Volunteer Fire Department members of an emergency. While we rely on other forms of communication such as pagers and cell phones, they have their short comings. Batteries die, pagers and cell phones are not on the person, text messaging and smart phone apps like Active 911 could be delayed, with some calls not coming through at all. The National Fire Protection Association recommends that there are at least 2 reliable means to alert firefighters. The siren gets the firefighters attention at any time.

It says to everyone, somebody needs help! When people in town hear the sirens, it tells them there’s an emergency going on somewhere and it helps with traffic. It warns citizens to be alert for volunteers responding to the firehouse and to watch out for fire trucks responding to an incident. When it’s your time of emergency, a siren reassures you that help is on the way!

Like the distance to the closest fire hydrant, fire sirens also help with the cost of homeowner’s insurance, counting as points toward a better score on an Insurance Services Office evaluation. The higher the score given to the fire department, the lower the insurance costs to the homeowner!