Air raid sirens.. do we have them here?

[SpikyJugs]

Watching the news and hearing the air raid sirens going off constantly in Ukraine, it has made me curious.

Do we have them installed in major cities in the UK? Would they go off if we detected an invading aircraft? Are they sitting there ready to go if a threat occurs, or do the military bring them in if we think we're likely to need them?

How do they work? Does someone get information about an incoming aircraft and switch them on?

I think they're incredibly haunting and I can't imagine how frightened the poor people of Ukraine must be hearing them go off constantly

I found one on Street View (via an article). It's on Waterloo Road near Waterloo East.

Plymouth do. They set them off briefly every Monday morning at 11 to test them.

on youtube (of course) there is a series of short films based on nuclear alerts - these seem to be done on TV - ones with signs just saying "imminent nuclear attack - tune to this channel & advice will be given"
yeah right & the tv would work with electromagnetic pulse & radar black out etc & minor things like major interruptions to power because of explosions
lets hope the only place we hear them is on films or you tube

There's a big factory near me that tests their sirens a couple of times a year, I can hear it from my house but a friend's husband who works there tells me I'm far enough away that I'd be out of "the blast zone".

[quote RainbowZebraWarrior]Latest Govt info

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.gov.uk/alerts&ved=2ahUKEwj9kL2Dy8D2AhUEUcAKHaUXBBoQtwJ6BAgXEAE&usg=AOvVaw1YfOiDzs72wfzvKvVu5oK3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.gov.uk/alerts&ved=2ahUKEwj9kL2Dy8D2AhUEUcAKHaUXBBoQtwJ6BAgXEAE&usg=AOvVaw1YfOiDzs72wfzvKvVu5oK3[/quote]
I don't know why but I find this utterly terrifying?

Irrational I know.

Major city in the south east here - they are regularly tested (2-3 times a year).

@FourOclock

Our neighbouring farmer has one set up as his security alarm for his farm. No idea how he got hold of it. So the whole bloody village knows when he's forgotten the alarm code

We had a village post office and one of the previous owners still lived in the village and said they took the portable wind-up air raid siren with them when they moved out.

I bet you can buy them on ebay.

[quote CraftyGin]www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/02/24/does-the-uk-have-air-raid-sirens/[/quote]
Interesting.

Emergency alerts to a phone sound useful in certain circumstances but won't each people without a smart phone (presumably). And what about if the mobile phone infrastructure fails. Not much use then.

[quote RainbowZebraWarrior]Latest Govt info

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.gov.uk/alerts&ved=2ahUKEwj9kL2Dy8D2AhUEUcAKHaUXBBoQtwJ6BAgXEAE&usg=AOvVaw1YfOiDzs72wfzvKvVu5oK3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.gov.uk/alerts&ved=2ahUKEwj9kL2Dy8D2AhUEUcAKHaUXBBoQtwJ6BAgXEAE&usg=AOvVaw1YfOiDzs72wfzvKvVu5oK3[/quote]
That link's not working......

I suppose the next question is what do you do if there was an emergency alert or siren?

This is interesting en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_warning

There's one at the docks in Falmouth that used to go off really regularly- I was told it was to tell the workers it was lunchtime!- but come to think of it, I haven't heard it for a few years.

Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham. Tested weekly.

Well I presume it still is, was pre-covid.

I only know of sirens where there is a risk form chemical escape form nearby industrial processing sites. That is quite common. You’re supposed to close all your windows and stay inside. I’ve lived in areas with that twice now. One of them tested every week . It was about 1 mile away and sounded very loud- you could hear with windows shut just about. God knows how loud if you lived locally😱
There aren’t any air raid arena still up- all removed a long time ago. Sirens people hear are these chemical gas escape ones.

@RichardMarxisinnocent

What would be the point of sirens nowadays though if there's an air raid? I'm not aware of any bomb shelters anywhere near me, my building has no basement I can shelter in, and the place I live has no underground system. So what do I do if the siren goes off? Just panic? I have nowhere to go.

Strangely the old community bomb shelter near me is still intact. I've spent years trying to figure out how to get in it. It looks small from the grassed over lumpy bit but if you know what your looking at the surrounding grass is a different colour and the ground underfoot is harder. So like when theres lots of rain everywhere is soggy except where the bunker is, that's solid. Its like a semi circular shape and when the grass is cut you can see the corridors leading off the main chamber. Fascinating stuff to me but I think useless in a nuclear war.

FWIW this area used to be full of terraces with cellars where you would normally wait out an air raid.

The Crowthorne siren (Bracknell and Wokingham can hear it) is for Broadmoor hospital. It is regularly checked and used if there is an escape.

The Broadmoor one does not function now - used to be tested every Monday 10am but defunct now I believe. I live in Berkshire so used to hear it all the time - big speakers by Bracknell station.

There are also some still used for flood risks.
My understanding is that the last were phased out in 1990s at end of Cold War, and because of the rise of mobile phones. The governments view is that we will be alerted on our smart phones. Great in theory, but we’ve seen in Ukraine that the one flaw of that is finding a charging point or even electricity
The only thing in our favour is being an island we tend to get more notice of invasions and even in Elizabeth 1st time 500 years ago were pretty good and letting people know an invasion was imminent by use of Connected signals along the coast line

We live near an industrial area and they have all sorts of sirens going off- maybe they would be used

I bet you can buy them on ebay

Just checked and yes even Amazon sell wind up ones.

@HashtagShitShop

If I remember rightly, bracknell (or near there) has one for when/if broadmoor prisoners go walkies.

Those are the Broadmoor escape alarms. Tested I think every Monday at 10am.

@HashtagShitShop

If I remember rightly, bracknell (or near there) has one for when/if broadmoor prisoners go walkies.

Crowthorne. They used to test it every Monday morning. You can hear it for miles. Terrifying.

I live near an industrial chemical site and they have an alarm they test regularly, similar to you @MayMorris. I’ve also registered for text alerts if they have a gas leak (never had one yet though!)

There is one near where I work, they test it about once a month. With the way things are going we might need more soon.

I have a hand-cranked one. Most city and town WWII sirens were electrically powered