WHERE'S the FIRE???

[W. Gray]

Yeah, we got out of Dodge quick!

[Wilma]

Waldo, Janet calls me when the siren sounds because she knows I will call her if she doesn't.  They have a scanner and I don't and I am not heading for cover until I am sure there is a reason.  She hadn't been home from work very long and hadn't gone to bed yet.

Danny, thanks for the reporting.  I like having the facts and not the embellished version.

[Tobina+1]

Is there a difference in the tornado sirens and the fire sirens in town?  Back home, they would post the differences in the sirens in the paper every-so-often.

[W. Gray]

Wilma, yes I understand.

I was just pulling Janet's chain.


I would also like to know if there is a difference in sirens.

A note of sorts.

Waldo Gray's house at the end of Chestnut has/had a shelter meant for taking cover during a tornado.

He built it after the 1955 tornado wiped out Udall. Apparently some hit in Elk County at that time, also.

[Wilma]

There is no difference in the sirens.  If it continues to sound, it is a tornado;  if it sounds for just a moment or two, it is a  fire in town.  It also sounds one night a month for the fire meeting.  I can't remember if it is the first or second Wednesday.

[Tobina+1]

So, one could assume...
One long blast = Tornado  (does it sound again for an "all clear"?)
Multiple short blasts = Fire
One short blast = Fire meeting

[Wilma]

I don't know if it sounds again for an all clear.  Not having been here during an actual tornado warning.

[Tobina+1]

Not that it matters to me... can't hear the sirens 8 miles in the country anyway!  Just helping educate the masses (or the forum masses, anyway).

[DolphinsLEM]

Well I can tell you, Cody, Jason and I were in the basement when those two alarms went off.  It is scary. Especially for someone from Buffalo, NY who has never had to worry about that before.  We only had snow in NY.  Cody is afraid of the thunder, he runs to us everytime it happens.  The alarm at night was especially scary because it woke me up, and there was the bad weather.  I ripped Cody out of his crib and ran downstairs.  The other one was scary because of the weather but not as much as the other one.  I was wondering if the alarms were different or not, so that is good to know. 

[Diane Amberg]

Yeah, your snow was very predictable....every winter you all knew you all would have tons of it.  Tornadoes happen every summer, but they are hit or miss so they are scary. I'm always still amazed that more people don't have storm cellars anymore.  Even Al is getting a little nervous about our trip. There is severe weather forecast today for exactly where we will be going in two weeks, after we leave Howard.