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Original poster

Air raid sirens.. do we have them here?

105 replies

SpikyJugs · 12/03/2022 11:47

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

OP posts:
ProfessionalWeirdo · 12/03/2022 14:34

There's an air raid siren a mile or so from where I live. I believe it's still tested once a year, though I've never heard it.

LittleDiaries · 12/03/2022 14:38

@Halsall

When I was growing up, the air-raid siren used to be sounded as the fire-alarm to alert the village fire-crew. This was some time after the war, I hasten to add!
I remember that too. It was in the 70s. You could hear the siren right across town. Used to terrify me.

There is a siren for flood warnings in the next village along the coast to where we live, which is susceptible to flooding at very high tides.

wheresmymojo · 12/03/2022 14:45

[quote DogInATent]No. Civil defence sirens were decommissioned years ago. There's a few still in-place if you look. Flood sirens are gradually being replaced with text alert systems.

If you remember back a couple of years, there was a test of the UK text alert system. Not everyone got the test message, but quite a few did.
www.gov.uk/alerts[/quote]
...and they used the same system for alerts at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Nat6999 · 12/03/2022 14:46

Sheffield City Centre has one, they used it as part of the 75th commemoration of the Sheffield Blitz, we were at my mum's 3 miles away & heard it clearly.

AdviceOnLife · 12/03/2022 14:57

My friend and I went for a slightly boozy lunch in our main city - a biggish city in Scotland- quite a few years ago now.
While out a bomb threat was made and city centre evacuated.
We both clearly remember there was a siren that sounded and was exactly the same as the war sirens. I don't know if it was a genuine one or if it was a shop siren or something but it sobered us up straight away and we began running.
Days after wee looked it up and could find articles about the evacuation but nothing about it the siren. But we both remember it clear as anything and spoke about the siren but there is no record of a siren in that town. Its bizarre and still puzzles us to this day.

Oneonetheracehorse · 12/03/2022 15:01

I remember the one near Wokingham as we lived near there when I was little. My mum always says if they heard it they were to go indoors and lock all the doors and windows until the all clear. Not sure how true it was but it terrified me!
Also heard one go off when we lived in the North West as a test and again it scared the pants off me!

wheresmymojo · 12/03/2022 15:02

You could really cause some panic with a wind up air raid siren right now!

BitOutOfPractice · 12/03/2022 15:02

I lived on an island in England and they had this type of siren for flood evacuation. They were tested periodically and it was a really really scary sound.

BitOutOfPractice · 12/03/2022 15:02

This was on the early 2000s

FourTeaFallOut · 12/03/2022 15:06

@SpikyJugs

That article above that *@CraftyGin* linked to says UK govt have introduced a new text message system that sends a message to your phone and overrides everything else. Which seems sensible - except I don't have a phone signal in the rural area where I live. Mind you, i doubt my area would be a prime target for any incoming missile...

The article said that a missile launched from moscow would take around 20 mins to reach London.

As a fan of apocalyptic disaster movies, I also imagine that any warning would be immediately broadcast across all TV platforms. But that would only be for an unusually important event I imagine. The constant sirens that Ukraine are experiencing i imagine are triggered by sightings of fighter jets?

They tested that bloody thing the other day just while I was reading the concerns about whether it was possible to keep Chernobyl safe without access to power. I just about shit myself.
TheSilveryTinsellyPussycat · 12/03/2022 15:09

A variable siren sounded the warning, a steady one signalled the all clear. Am ancient, and remember hearing one being tested each year in Croydon.

Els1e · 12/03/2022 15:11

Sort of but they are for flood warning now.

Notgotanyidea · 12/03/2022 15:12

The one near us is tested at the same time every week.

FairNotFair · 12/03/2022 15:15

We have one that goes off every Monday morning at a factory across the river

crispsarny · 12/03/2022 15:15

@HashtagShitShop

If I remember rightly, bracknell (or near there) has one for when/if broadmoor prisoners go walkies.
I lived next to that, if it went off outside the regular test time it was advisable to stay in, lock your doors & windows!
BirdOnTheWire · 12/03/2022 15:17

I grew up in an industrial town in the 60s and there were sirens which went off 3 times a day for shift change. Sounded just like air raid sirens.

MNSVigilante · 12/03/2022 15:20

@Tidypidy

There's one at the army camp in the town where I live. It goes off every 11 November at 11am.
Yeh. We live near an old air base and they still have them. I'm also secretly hoping they have some kind of bomb proof bunker too Grin
crispsarny · 12/03/2022 15:23

@Oneonetheracehorse

I remember the one near Wokingham as we lived near there when I was little. My mum always says if they heard it they were to go indoors and lock all the doors and windows until the all clear. Not sure how true it was but it terrified me! Also heard one go off when we lived in the North West as a test and again it scared the pants off me!
Is true, was for Broadmoor, when we were looking for some where to rent the agent said same thing, they would regularly test it, outside of that if it went off lock yourself in!
SirGawain · 12/03/2022 15:33

We had one near us which I think served as a flood alert. A flood prevention scheme rendered it redundant and it was removed. It used to be tested at intervals on a Sunday morning.

crispsarny · 12/03/2022 15:33

@HashtagShitShop @Oneonetheracehorse nearly all Broadmoor escape sirens have been removed, interesting read here broadmoor-hospital-sirens.fandom.com/wiki/Broadmoor_Hospital_Sirens_Wiki

LowlandLucky · 12/03/2022 15:38

Air bases still have them, they used to be used to call the personnel out on exercise. One night the alarm in the middle of our street went off, it got stuck and it took 7 hours to turn the bloody thing off. I hope i never hear that sound again.

BigFatLiar · 12/03/2022 15:40

Not that much point in alarms, what would you do?
The old advice was 'duck and cover', have a look at the YouTube for that, it'll give you confidence. There were a couple of films about nuclear attack, 'where the wind blows' was one I think and the BBC did 'Threads'. Makes you think best thing to do is go and watch the bomb drop, survival wouldn't be good.

BertieBotts · 12/03/2022 15:40

The phone text warnings have been in use for years now in Japan for earthquakes. They work on smartphones via a pop up or dumb phones/PDAs (remember Blackberrys?) as a text message with different to usual ringtone.

daytriptovulcan · 12/03/2022 16:26

There used to be one near my mum's, it was taken down about 10 years ago

Terfydactyl · 12/03/2022 16:34

@BigFatLiar

Not that much point in alarms, what would you do? The old advice was 'duck and cover', have a look at the YouTube for that, it'll give you confidence. There were a couple of films about nuclear attack, 'where the wind blows' was one I think and the BBC did 'Threads'. Makes you think best thing to do is go and watch the bomb drop, survival wouldn't be good.
Theres a thread on here that asks what would you do if?

I will walk towards it, I dont rate my chances of defending myself in the aftermath.