Hiya! I am the Head expert on the LA County Sirens and im currently having them repainted for LA Historic purposes as they are not going to come down unless they are in the way of new construction.... The first batch of Thirty 3 Horsepower sirens and Thirty 7 1/2 HP sirens went up 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor in January 1942... There were only 60 sirens then..... in 1952 after Russia tested its 1st Nuke Bomb LA COunty ordered an additional 96 SD-10 10HP Sirens and 69 500-TT rotation sirens that are also 10 HP... the 230 total sirens in LA County were its own entity! Incorporated Cities like Hawthorne, West Hollywood and Burbank had their own sirens and some were Thunderbolts which are also 10 HP... the sirens that looked like Crushed Birdhouses are 3 HP Fedelcode sirens... the taller Birdcage 7 1/2 HP sirens are a mix of dual tone, single low tone and high tone....I have inspected all 3 types and was amazed..most are dual tone however...All SD-10 sirens and 500-TT sirens are dual tone.... Hope this helps.... You will see all of these sirens repainted by the end of Summer 2020

The "rotating megaphone" would be a Federal Signal 500SHTTs. And those "House like Sirens" would be Federal Signal Model 5Ts The "Square looking sirens" would be Federal Signal SD-10s.

*im a siren fan and enthusiadt im happy you made this video cause i live in the los angeles county also i wanna tell you huntington beach has tsunami sirens that are active and torrance oil refinery sirens are active too*

It’s really sad that they don’t still use those sirens, I think it would be really cool to see them going off, also I think the megaphone head moving for no reason is really creepy

And i've driven by that siren on Reseda for 11 years, it always rotates in the wind. Fun fact, Chrysler made Hemi powered V8 air raid sirens in the 60's.

I'm from Fresno, CA. Even in Fresno they have some of these 50+ year old sirens still standing. It's true. I never noticed them until a couple years ago and wondered why they were there. All over California they were installed. A lot are still standing and I hope they stay standing to be honest.

Siren hunting really is a very rewarding activity. I've spent a few weekend days driving through small towns in MN to find unknown sirens not marked on the MN Siren locations map, and it's always just a fun rush to find another one, hiding right there in plain sight.

This was an awesome video! You spoke in detail about these sirens, thanks for your effort on this video!

Very informative, I am doing a college project on these sirens and this video got me excited to present on it!

Awesome video! In my city, among an active siren system, there is this one defunct Thunderbolt (a rotating siren) on top of an apartment building. I have observed the siren to not activate during tests, and an individual at the city's emergency management agency actually told me that it is no longer working or in service (and this does not cause a gap in siren coverage by in-service units). Curiously, however, on several occasions I have noticed the siren to be facing a different direction than it was on the previous time I saw it. Even so, it continued to remain silent and still during testing time. I suppose the wind probably moves the siren around, or people trespass onto the roof and move it themselves.

I always had a dream of wiring one up and seeing if it still worked. Most likely froze up from rust. I remember hearing them in the early 80s as a kid.

Really interesting - I've wondered about these in LA and glad to get more info.

That particular rotating siren was known for having issues with the drive belt for the rotation mechanism which is why it moved in the wind. The belt likely deteriorated and crumbled apart allowing the siren to move freely. Kind of like putting a car into neutral.

I love how informative this was!

You would see these in the San Gabriel valley also. Anyway, when you heard the siren, you were supposed to tune your portable AM radio to 640 or 1240 Kcs (Khz) and take cover.

Great video. I love the atmosphere of it

awesome and very interesting video!

Answering one of the questions: Los Angeles does not maintain these sirens anymore. They’ve been completely inactive since the end of the Cold War, and will likely never be activated again. After the Cold War, Many towns and cities decided to use these sirens in other ways, most commonly for tornadoes in the central and Midwest US, or to warn of disasters at nuclear plants and refinery’s. They may also be used to warn of Hurricane, flood, fires, or even tsunamis. Some places are even installing new sirens, some of which are basically just giant speakers. Wear I live, we have multiple fire departments that use these sirens to call firefighters to the station. Hawaii recently began using the sirens for both air raids and tsunamis, in fear that North Korea may attack. Someone in the comments mentioned that Huntington Beach has tsunami sirens, so you may want to check that out. I can neither confirm nor deny that Huntington beaches sirens exist, because I don’t live anywhere near LA. Have fun siren hunting!

if you heard a sound that was really loud and it wasnt the wind or cars it mightve been testing

6:16 it could be the wind. They usually have belts on the rotator so it can’t spin freely. But since the siren was abandoned the belt could of rotted and plus, it was a windy night.

The music in this video was so nice and calming to hear.

6:30 “side to side” they actually go in a full circle

Those sirens are invisible lost in a big city just waiting for a siren enthusiast to take it home and restore it to it's full working condition! Wonder if those sirens are still there?

Thanks for this video,, i lived in Lawndale in the 1960s til the mid 1980s and remember hearing them wail every last Friday of the month at 10am as mentioned in the video which was the duck and cover routine during the school year. Near by in the same town of Lawndale there use to be a Federal Thunderbolt siren standing on the golf course of Alondra Park next to El Camino Junior College and that thing roared. Too bad the city took it down later in the 1980s.

This is brilliant! I wish they were still tested

Wow, what an awesome video! How do you only have 94 subscribers? Well, now you have 95!

If I saw it rotate, I would have actually crashed my car out of excitement

very good video! the editing was very good!

Same with me all these times I drove past them and never knew about them

Cool, loved your voiceover commentary! I have a keen interest in sirens, mainly in and around some of our secure hospitals of Broadmoor and Carstairs. Pls look me up if you have time.

It’s very neat and amazing to still see these sirens here! My question is do they still work.

Omg im glad im not the only one who noticed it moving I’ve seen 113 move before when i was younger i thought it was just my imagination 6:12

the sirens phone and power lines are cut and the single directional sirens aka the "megaphone" sirens used rubber belts to rotate the sirens which now have disintegrated leaving those sirens able to be swiveled by wind or other causes. they would also rotate 360 degrees and not back in fourth in s small radius but all of the sirens are inactive and very rusted

As a kid years ago i use to hear em the last Sunday of the month

I been there before and I was amazed by how many sirens there woer I loved it

As a siren enthusiast it is good to know they are not going to get taken down but for your information the first siren is a Federal Signal 500-SHTT the second is a Model 5 the third is a 500-SHTT the fourth is a H.O.R Siro Drone or a Model 3 I can not tell the fifth is a SD-10. Also at the end you said a siren was moving right to left that is only the wind when it tests it rotates all the way around and does not go right to left it pretty much does a 360 turn.

Grew up within earshot of Siren #108 in Northridge. They would be tested on the last Friday of the month at 10AM. If you stood outside, you could hear all the other sirens going off and echoing off each other across the Valley. Los Angeles County had a great civil defense program that included the sirens, perhaps most of them remain for future use - Now living in San Francisco, we have a good PA system that pumps in the siren sound every Tuesday at 12PM for emergencies mostly Tidal Waves.

Here's the siren types LA had: The tiny birdhouse sirens are the Fedelcode Mach 3Ls. The birdhouse sirens with a small vent in the middle are Fedelcode Mach 7Ls, and Mach 7s. The birdhouse sirens with the wide vents in the middle are Federal Sign & Signal Model 5ATs. The wire spool sirens are Federal Sign & Signal Model SD-10s. The rotating sirens are Federal Sign & Signal Model 500A-SHTTs.

i remember a couple of years ago my mom and i took a trip to downtown los angeles and on our way there we passed by two SD-10’s on accident, i still remember where they stood, one was directly on a sidewalk, and the other was in a public square, both of them are still standing.

A large majority of these sirens would still work, however many have not been tested in 30+ years. There is actually a very large group dedicated to sirens all across the country. It has been a life long hobby for many of us.

I lived in a small town on Vancouver Island Canada I remember at a local school field seeing a large hornlike thing on a 40 foot steel pipe pole. It was a Canadian designed CLM air raid siren installed in 1963 in the wake of the Cuban Missile.Crisis. this siren model was also made famous in the classic1980 comedy The Blues Brothers Movie starring John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, the thing was strapped on the roof of a cop car. In my town especially as a teenager in the 1970’s and 80’s I was creeped out by it hoping it would never power up. By the 90’s it was a rusted wreck and eventually removed. It had not been run since 1969.

I've always loved History and I've been obsessed with air raid sirens since I was 12 and I've also seen some move and I'm not sure if it was doing it on it's own or what

I was born in Sacramento and lived in the Bay Area for 10 years. About once a year, my school would hold an air raid drill. That was because the cold war was still happening in the 1980's. When the alarm sounded, we would hide under our desks until the all clear signal was heard. As I grew older, this practice had another purpose... to protect us from falling objects in case a major earthquake struck. Little did we realize that the Loma Prieta earthquake would strike San Francisco 5 years later in 1989.

Never knew such a big city even had sirens.

Rather odd that they kept them up despite not using them in decades. They could use them for earthquake alerts or tsunami warnings.

In some cities/states they have been upgraded and are tested weekly. When I was a kid in the 90's I used to stand under a really big one right before it would go off. It was an old cold war one and would suddenly make a loud click and vibrate.

I got a selfie under that second one on Winnetka and Strathern

Alert!!! A Reminder Is Needed For Our Safety! Please Reconnect All Sirens Or Replace And Reconnect All Sirens! Some People Can’t Receive Warnings With Phones Today! A Siren Is Needed 5 Miles Apart From Each other! More People Will Be Safe Due To This! Please Listen And Be Ready For The Warnings And Open The Sirens! This Is The Best For All People!

The big megaphone / F.S. 500. Does rotate 360°. Now since they have been through weather and age and now move in the wind.

I was in elementary school when I first heard one and wondered, " when they came from?"

these sirens should be noticed

There cool and if you have been to the fort in long beach during la air raid day they have a chrysler air raid siren that they run it is great!

The main reason the sirens are still standing is in case of emergency they will sound or if they are inactive people are just too lazy to take them down

Content great, have subscribed - please improve sound slightly to make it more awesome. :)

the siren you thought rotated is called a federal Signal 500. some of them are still active here.

You made it sound creepy

This is very interesting

It's a good topic to hit on. As you learned, these sirens to warn the populace of an incoming or imminent attack. While some locations have no need to test them anymore, those of us who are impacted by extreme weather hear these go off once a month, some places once a week. Long have they been a multi-use alarm system for fire calls, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and other alerts, they still apply to the true purpose of their existence, for an attack against the US. If you haven't already, study in to the cold war. You might be surprised of what you can learn.

I remember the ones in my old naborhood from when I was a kid''''''''' turning the big 52'''''''' ohhhh nooooo I'm getting old!!!!!!!!!

Cold War era air-raid warning-siren is adjacent to a store with a sign that reads "Russian Gifts."

IT wasnt the wind, it was the ghosts of the past silently calling out. Whispering the dark fate that they once stood vigil against.....

I love sirens

CNN “ The Japanese attack was mostly peaceful.”

at 6:40 you ask if the siren was being tested that night? Was it just the wind? From your video I can comfortably say that the siren was being tested by ONLY the wind. That model siren rotates to broadcast its warning tones, its not geared to do a side to side motion like someone shaking their head to signal "no". Below the siren assembly itself, one can see the glass insulators for the power feed. There are no power cables connected to the siren's power feed, which I guess at one time came from the utility pole in the same photo. That power feed is completely barren, so the siren has no electrical power and electricity alone operates it. What you saw, in my opinion, was a result of the force of the ambient wind's positive pressure against the surface area of the siren's head, resulting in visible motion. The same physical principles can be observed with wind driving a three blade turbine to generate electricity. My wordy explanation can be replaced simply with "that's a disconnected siren being blown around in the wind".

Will these be still in use?? I would like a test from those babies!

Nice vid! I remember seeing a 15' Yellow "Pole Siren" (thats what i called it) in Hayward, CA right behind the KFC off of Tennyson RD. Don't know when it was put up, but if i had to guess maybe 1941 or 1952? It's upper section was shapped like a large Cylinder, and had 4 "Ring Shrouds" around it. Never heard it go off as a Kid, never saw any more in Hayward besides that one. They tore it down sometime around 2000-2002? (I moved to AZ in late 2000 then moved back and now live in Fremont, CA so they must have got rid of it within that timeline.) Anyways, if anyone can send some info my way regarding this long lost siren, or any others that existed in or near Hayward...that'd be great.

I have one right outside my building

They only removed the control boxes and the power

they should re test them again

ANSWER: yes they do test they save there old sirens.and there still.used.for.tornado warnings

The first one is a Federal Signal 500. Most of these are SD-10's.

I feel bad for those sirens in LA and other old air raid sirens around the world in the US

Here because I noticed the Parthenia/Winnetka siren rotating on Sunday. Did you ever find out why?

Sirens types: Sd-10 Fedreal signal model 5 Federal signal

Federal Signal 500, SD-10, and Model 2, 3, 5, or 7, I think.

Are there any of the original sirens from WW2 remaining? (The large ones powered by a Chrysler engine on the back).

Sirens that were abandoned model 5t 500AT SD10 Scrivo

I am the biggest fan of tornado sirens, Also one really old tornado siren been tested! I don’t know the name of the video, but I love tornados and tornado sirens

I really wish I can take one or all and restore them

I wish those sirens where in new Zealand

One question. What if they activated the sirens again?

yes it was the wind. no it was not being tested. you would have heard it. more than likely that infrastucture that used to operate it is long gone.

Those weird cone-things are called FS model 5s. The boxy ones are FS SD-10s.

the first siren we see is an SHTT 500 federal signal

Why these sirens are being removed?

the 500 you seen rotating was rotating because all rotational sirens lock the horn so you seen it test

Where I grew we had a siren that was used as a call for the volunteer fire deptment. www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/thinkstockphotos-147014239-e1523551513800.jpg?w=1024&h=576

I don't think wind pushed it I seen many rotating sirens on windy days and the wind didn't move them

how did I get here

Just imagine trying to find these sirens in GTA V because GTA V is based off of LA

Wow you have a fs 550 in you city 😉👍

The lost sirens you say? Well...... Its a loooooooooong story. BUT hopefully these sirens can be saved before they get replaced with ATIs or something

It was testing in the end of the video

First one is an electromechanical siren not a megaphone

Music is creepy

You should totally be a voiceover or commentator.

Maybe they were for tornados to

Too bad you weren't able to display a Chrysler V8 victory siren. Ain't none of em standing in their original locations.

there all kinds of sirens

number 4 is an hor sirodrone