School fire alarms

[Sad Sprinter]

A bit of a weird topic - but when I was in primary school I remember being utterly afraid of the fire alarm system. The alarm itself was like a box that jutted out of the wall, with a mesh covering over the speakers, that let out a long, very loud, flat note. As an autistic child, it was terrifying, but I can’t find any reference to such a system on the internet. Did anyone else have this alarm system in their school?

 

[Islineclear3_1]

We had a striking bell (in the 1970s)

Obviously, fire alarms have to be loud - otherwise people wouldn't take notice but I get for people on the spectrum, it can be perceived as even louder...

 

[Bletchleyite]

We had a striking bell (in the 1970s)

Obviously, fire alarms have to be loud - otherwise people wouldn't take notice but I get for people on the spectrum, it can be perceived as even louder...

The impression I had of ours was that it was so loud you couldn't stay in there because it hurt your ears.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

We had a striking bell (in the 1970s)

Obviously, fire alarms have to be loud - otherwise people wouldn't take notice but I get for people on the spectrum, it can be perceived as even louder...

It was loud but it was also the constant, single flat note that made it really quite sinister

 

[ainsworth74]

At my school we had an old air raid siren (which had been converted to be a fire alarm, it only produced the steady "all clear" tone rather than the wailing "alert" tone that it would have done in its original guise) mounted on the outside of the main building as the school was lucky to have quite large grounds so needed something that could be heard all over the premises and it certainly attracted attention when the fire alarm went off! If you were in the room near to where it was mounted you couldn't hear the siren itself (drowned out by the other more conventional alarms) but you could hear the vibration through the wall of the mechanism spinning.

Inside was more conventional and modern alarms which were certainly incredibly loud and annoying but nothing that looked like the as described by the OP

 

[Sad Sprinter]

At my school we had an old air raid siren (which had been converted to be a fire alarm, it only produced the steady "all clear" tone rather than the wailing "alert" tone that it would have done in its original guise) mounted on the outside of the main building as the school was lucky to have quite large grounds so needed something that could be heard all over the premises and it certainly attracted attention when the fire alarm went off! If you were in the room near to where it was mounted you couldn't hear the siren itself (drowned out by the other more conventional alarms) but you could hear the vibration through the wall of the mechanism spinning.

Inside was more conventional and modern alarms which were certainly incredibly loud and annoying but nothing that looked like the as described by the OP

It’s funny you mention that. I once knew someone that was in primary school in the 2000s in south London, who unlike me, had no interest at all in air raid sirens systems. But during a one sided lecture conversation I was having with them about the Cold War air raid siren system (for some reason), they said that they had one still in situ in a fenced off area of their primary school, which the teachers for some reason set off when they were teaching the kids about WW2. It seems like a somewhat implausible story, like why would the teachers have access to the siren’s control panel, and decide to operate it?? But I suppose if it was on school property, it’s not impossible that the party whoever was in charge of removing the sirens at the end of the Cold War, simply overlooked that one.

 

[dangie]

At my school we had an old air raid siren…..

Back to when I was a young child back in the early 1950’s I can still remember the weekly testing of the World War II air raid siren. It was situated on the Co-Op roof in the highest part of the town. As the crow flies it was well over a mile away and could be heard quite clearly. If you happened to be near it was really ear piercing. Did it’s job I suppose.

 

[edwin_m]

At the school I attended in the 70s the fire alarm was just the continuous sounding of the normal end of lesson bells. Probably due to the obvious hazard should a fire break out just before an end of lesson time, a new system was installed with sirens instead. However, the old system remained with the breakable glass in the call points replaced by flexible black plastic, thus creating some nice buttons for someone to sneak out of a lesson then liberate their classmates a few minutes early.

 

[AlterEgo]

It’s funny you mention that. I once knew someone that was in primary school in the 2000s in south London, who unlike me, had no interest at all in air raid sirens systems. But during a one sided lecture conversation I was having with them about the Cold War air raid siren system (for some reason), they said that they had one still in situ in a fenced off area of their primary school, which the teachers for some reason set off when they were teaching the kids about WW2. It seems like a somewhat implausible story, like why would the teachers have access to the siren’s control panel, and decide to operate it?? But I suppose if it was on school property, it’s not impossible that the party whoever was in charge of removing the sirens at the end of the Cold War, simply overlooked that one.

Were those sirens not often hand cranked? You could just walk up to them and turn them if so, no control panel.

 

[voyagerdude220]

A bit of a weird topic - but when I was in primary school I remember being utterly afraid of the fire alarm system. The alarm itself was like a box that jutted out of the wall, with a mesh covering over the speakers, that let out a long, very loud, flat note. As an autistic child, it was terrifying, but I can’t find any reference to such a system on the internet. Did anyone else have this alarm system in their school?

I'm wondering if what you describe is similar to the fire alarm at my old secondary school. The alarms were square with a circular middle and would emit a very loud high pitch beeping horn sound.

 

[PeterC]

At the school I attended in the 70s the fire alarm was just the continuous sounding of the normal end of lesson bells. Probably due to the obvious hazard should a fire break out just before an end of lesson time, a new system was installed with sirens instead. However, the old system remained with the breakable glass in the call points replaced by flexible black plastic, thus creating some nice buttons for someone to sneak out of a lesson then liberate their classmates a few minutes early.

Same at my school in Gidea Park in the 60s. I have been trying to Google the date without success but one fire drill coincided with a big fire in one of the buildings of the old GER depot.

 

[John Webb]

The various forms of 'sounders' for fire alarm systems has been varied. Most early systems used a standard bell of some sort, usually rung continuously. There were also rotatory sirens, both large ones such as used for WW2 air-raid warnings and small ones for a distinctive sound in industrial units where high noise levels were found. As transistorised equipment became available various single tone and multiple-tone speaker-type sounders were introduced; these are the sort several of you have mentioned above. As electronics continued to develop, including piezo-electric sounders, warning devices became smaller. Indeed it is now possible to install in a modern digital systems a single smoke-detector with built-in sounder and a flashing beacon for those hard of hearing.
In some areas the WW2 sirens were kept and used to call out local 'retained' fire-fighters, but radio pagers eventually put the sirens out of business.

I worked on fire detection systems for some years - one job was to measure the volume of sounders in 'free-field' conditions. (IE out in the open air, to the annoyance of colleagues in a nearby office/laboratory block!)

 

[Galvanize]

A bit of a weird topic - but when I was in primary school I remember being utterly afraid of the fire alarm system. The alarm itself was like a box that jutted out of the wall, with a mesh covering over the speakers, that let out a long, very loud, flat note. As an autistic child, it was terrifying, but I can’t find any reference to such a system on the internet. Did anyone else have this alarm system in their school?

My primary school had it.

And yes…it was terrifying.

 

[Ashley Hill]

All my schools just had normal fire bells that rang whilst we all traipsed outside for the register to be called.
My first primary school (late 70s) did have an air raid siren which was tested periodically but never during break time .

 

[Russel]

Not strictly related to schools, but I've noticed a lot of people pay much less attention to fire alarms in public places these days, the fire alarm sounded in my local shopping centre a while back and I remember being one of only a couple of people to actually leave the building, so many people kept browsing the shelves of Poundland like nothing was happening.

 

[spyinthesky]

We still use the Air raid siren at work due to it’s military history but sadly it will soon be replaced.

 

[John Webb]

Not strictly related to schools, but I've noticed a lot of people pay much less attention to fire alarms in public places these days, the fire alarm sounded in my local shopping centre a while back and I remember being one of only a couple of people to actually leave the building, so many people kept browsing the shelves of Poundland like nothing was happening.

Considerable research was carried out in past decades (1980s/1990s) on the response of people to fire alarm signals. It was found the best response was obtained by using short warning sounds followed by a vocal message telling people what to do.
The vast majority of public places now use this sort of system, often in two stages - an alert when a fire is detected and then an 'Evacuate' request when it is decided there is an emergency situation, not an 'unwanted fire signal' or 'false alarm'.

There are of course other systems that generate alarm noises- security, disabled toilet emergency alarms and the like - and various British Standards try to ensure there is the minimum of confusion between them.

 

[dangie]

….but I've noticed a lot of people pay much less attention to fire alarms in public places these days, the fire alarm sounded in my local shopping centre a while back and I remember being one of only a couple of people to actually leave the building, so many people kept browsing the shelves of Poundland like nothing was happening.

Would it not be beyond technology to have verbal instructions interspersed within the fire alarm to instruct customers to leave the store?

 

[John Webb]

Would it not be beyond technology to have verbal instructions interspersed within the fire alarm to instruct customers to leave the store?

Such systems have been available for several decades at least - see my post #17 immediately before your post.

 

[dangie]

Such systems have been available for several decades at least - see my post #17 immediately before your post.

Oh yes, sorry about that

 

[PeterC]

Considerable research was carried out in past decades (1980s/1990s) on the response of people to fire alarm signals. It was found the best response was obtained by using short warning sounds followed by a vocal message telling people what to do.
The vast majority of public places now use this sort of system, often in two stages - an alert when a fire is detected and then an 'Evacuate' request when it is decided there is an emergency situation, not an 'unwanted fire signal' or 'false alarm'.

There are of course other systems that generate alarm noises- security, disabled toilet emergency alarms and the like - and various British Standards try to ensure there is the minimum of confusion between them.

Not at school but in offices I have heard 2 stage alarms with an alert followed by an evacuation alarm. The toilets also had a flashing light.

I recall one office where we had a genuine suspect package which required a controlled explosion. One consultant who ignored the alarm actually made a formal complaint about the fire marshall who ordered him out of the building.

 

[Russel]

Would it not be beyond technology to have verbal instructions interspersed within the fire alarm to instruct customers to leave the store?

Whatever format the alarm is in, it just struck me as odd that it was almost universally ignored.

So much noise around Grenfell, yet no one takes notice of a fire alarm!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Whatever format the alarm is in, it just struck me as odd that it was almost universally ignored.

So much noise around Grenfell, yet no one takes notice of a fire alarm!

There are all manner of alarms in stores, so as there's no standard for a fire alarm people typically await staff instruction.

 

[Russel]

There are all manner of alarms in stores, so as there's no standard for a fire alarm people typically await staff instruction.

Can't say I've ever confused a fire alarm with anything else, personally.

Most people of working age will undertake several fire drills at work per year, so I'm not sure how one couldn't recognise one?

Maybe I'm in the minority of people these days who are willing to take responsibility for their own safety and not rely on others to spoon feed them.

 

[Trackman]

At the school I attended in the 70s the fire alarm was just the continuous sounding of the normal end of lesson bells.

Same here. The thing was the end of lesson / break/ lunch bells system was manual and had to be pressed, no separate fire alarm system or boxes on the wall.

A nearby smaller school had Colin Crompton 'Wheel Tapper and Shunter's club' style ones.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

My primary school had it.

And yes…it was terrifying.

My primary school had it.

And yes…it was terrifying.

You’re from South London right? My school was there too and I remember Wandsworth Town Hall had that system, so maybe it was rolled out locally

 

[AlistairCowell]

A bit of a weird topic - but when I was in primary school I remember being utterly afraid of the fire alarm system. The alarm itself was like a box that jutted out of the wall, with a mesh covering over the speakers, that let out a long, very loud, flat note. As an autistic child, it was terrifying, but I can’t find any reference to such a system on the internet. Did anyone else have this alarm system in their school?

Could that be the model of fire alarm? Link: Chloride Gent Warbler

As an autistic child I hated fire alarms, the ones I had at one my Schools had a Gent 1500 siren (also known as the Strident) which is very loud. Some folk who went through the fire drill using the WW2 style siren will probably be that model.

I used to leave the building with my classroom assistant few minutes before the actual drill, which normally turned to be 10 minutes because the janitor was slow!

You know what you had to go through is only a practice, we all have to know where to go if there is a fire - leave the building!

 

[edwin_m]

Part of the purpose of drills and tests is to ensure everyone can hear the alarm. However, if they didn't hear it, how do they know?

More modern office buildings I've been in tend to have an announcement (usually a very wordy one) that there is about to be an alarm test and you should disregard the alarm. Followed afterwards by another (equally wordy) to say that the test is now complete, please report if you didn't hear it properly, and any further alarm is to be treated as genuine.

 

[brad465]

My school history has some interesting fire alarm incidents:

1) In primary school someone in my class in year 6, while on cloakroom monitor duty, decided to set the alarm off during break time. As a result the kids didn't realise for a while as it wasn't well audible on the playground, only when staff who had to vacate came out and assembled everyone like in a classic drill. The boy in question was suspended for 3 days.
2) Year 12: the alarm went off by accident when a girl took their blazer off behind an alarm point and in a way that set it off. This meant an A-Level exam had to evacuate the hall mid-way through.
3) Year 13 at the start of summer term: A drill had been planned for the afternoon. However during the lunch break, around 45 minutes before the drill was planned (planned drills were announced to everyone in advance), an electrical fault developed in one of the buildings, that, while not causing a fire, short-circuited something and automatically triggered both the fire alarm and summoned the fire brigade. The Deputy Head had to explain this after the registers had been taken and was quite the coincidence. While the fire service opened the buildings soon after lunch break finished, they were still on site at the end of the day over an hour later.

 

[Ediswan]

Part of the purpose of drills and tests is to ensure everyone can hear the alarm. However, if they didn't hear it, how do they know?

In the places where I have worked, fire marshalls checked each area for remaining people as part of the test.