Barnaby Drake
WHILE in France about three years ago, late in the night we were awakened by the sound of an old air-raid siren being sounded from the town on the opposite side of the river. I had not heard one of these since I was a child in Britain. As at the time, we were camping on the river bank, and as it had been raining for most of the day, we hastily arose and moved to higher ground. That was not the intention of this signal, as it turned out, but it was highly effective. It woke us and alerted us to danger.WHILE
This is the most effective early warning system ever devised. In France they still use it for calling out the volunteer fire service people, warning of and danger to the public and giving an ‘all clear’ signal after the danger has passed.
In the situation we were in, a text message or a television warning would have been absolutely useless, as we had neither available to us, and this was also the middle of the night.
The siren can be heard distinctly over a radius of about five kilometres and further if you are down wind. It is cheap to manufacture, is reliable and easy to install and it can be powered by mains electricity, a small generator or a small petrol engine.
Something like that installed in every community would have saved many lives in the current bushfire. A ‘danger imminent’ signal of short, sharp bursts, meaning ‘evacuate immediately’, would have possibly cut the fatalities to less then half!
Due to the current climate change situation we are undergoing, I believe this to be an absolute essential in all rural and bush areas.
There are several different designs of sirens and all are effective. I would recommend this system to all governments and local authorities and this would also be a huge boost to jobs and the economy in the manufacturing and erection of these units.
